mmfii'istlii^'i 


il|l!'ti|:|ii'|i;:;: 


o .  c  -^^ 


A  tut  WMoxmon  c. 

^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented    b^V^ro-  ?S~B  .  V^u<:Ar\\<9^\d  ,"D.T. 


Division 
Section 


Sec 


WHITHER?  0  WHITHER? 


TELL   ME  WHERE 


RY 

V 

JAMES    McCOSH,   Litt.D.,  LL.D.,  D.D. 

ADTHOR  OP  "PSYCHOLOGY.  THE  COGNITIVE  POWERS,"   "PSYCHOLOGY,  THE  HOTIVK 
FOWBRS,"   "  FIRST  AND  FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS,"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1889 


DR.    MCCOSH'S   WORKS. 


FIRST  AND  FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS.     Being   a   Treatise   on   Meta- 
physics. 

PSYCHOLOGY.     The  Cognitive  Powers. 

PSYCHOLOGY.     The  Motive  Powers. 

THE  EMOTIONS. 

REALISTIC  PHILOSOPHY.    Defended  in  a  Philosophic  Series.    2  vols.. 
i2mo.     Vol.  I.,  Expository.     Vol.  II.,  Historical  and  Critical. 

THE    NEW    DEPARTURE    IN    COLLEGE    EDUCATION. 

WHITHER'  O  WHITHER' 


THE     METHOD     OF    THE     DIVINE      GOVERNMENT.       Physical    and 
Moral. 

TYPICAL  FORMS  AND   SPECIAL  ENDS  IN   CREATION. 

THE  INTUITIONS  OF  THE  MIND. 

A  DEFENCE  OF    FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTH. 

SCOTTISH  PHILOSOPHY.     Biographical,  Expository,  and  Critical. 

LAWS  OF  DISCURSIVE  THOUGHT,  CHRISTIANITY,  AND  POSITIVISM. 


WHITHER?    O  WHITHER? 

TELL    ME    WHERE 


WHITHER?  0  WHITHER? 


TELL   ME   WHERE 


JAMES    McCOSH,    Litt.D.,  LL.D.,  D.D. 

AUTHOR  OF   "PSYCHOLOGY,  THE  COGNITIVE  POWERS,"   "PSYCHOLOGY,  THE  MOTIVE 
POWERS,"   "  FIRST  AND  FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS,"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

188U 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
CHAKLES    SCRIBNEE'S  SONS 


I   BOOKBINDING  COMPAN 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


This  is  not  so  much  a  review  of  Dr.  Briggs's 
Whither  ?  as  a  defence  of  truth  parallel  and  op- 
posed to  the  line  of  attack. 

The  author  acknowledges  that  the  references 
to  himself  are  too  frequent,  but  what  lie  states  is 
largely  the  result  of  his  lengtliened  ])ersonal  ex- 
perience. 

riiiNCKTON,  N.  J.,  November,  1889. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


PACE 

I.  "WmTHER?     Are  we  drifting  ? 1 

II.                         Are  our  young  men  moving  ? 4 

III.  To  Germany? 5 

IV.  Vfhat  are  we  to  make  of  Creeds  ?    .     .     .     .  n 
V.  The  drift  of  the  Westminster  Standards  ?     .  12 

VI.  The  Revision  of  the  Standards  ?     ....  11 

\^L                         TJie  Bible? 22 

VIII.                         As  to  the  poetical  theory  ? 29 

IX.                         Whotheauthm-of? 32 

X.  What  of  the  Christian  Evidences  ?       ...  34 

XI.  Are  we  in  this  life  under  Probation  ?  .     .     .  38 

XII.                        As  to  the  Middle  State  ? 40 

Xin.  ^Vhatof  the  Unity  of  the  Church?  .     .     .     .  4:^ 

XrV.                          In  respect  of  Public  Worship  ? 4.") 

XV.                         To  a  close, 47 


WHITHER?    O   WHITHER? 

TELL    ME    WHERE. 


Whither  ?  Ever  since  this  question  was  put  by  Di-. 
Briggs,  I  have  been  anxious  to  have  an  answer  clear  and 
explicit.  I  have  become  still  more  anxious  for  this  since 
his  opening  lecture  on  Biblical  History  has  been  pub- 
lished. 

Whither  are  we  drifting  f  To  answer  this  as  to  the 
world  at  large,  or  as  to  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  would 
require  a  sixteenth  century  folio,  which  we  cannot  bear 
in  these  degenerate  days.  But  the  religious  public  are 
earnestly,  and  the  secular  public  curiously,  looking  for 
an  answer  to  the  more  narrow  and  practicable  question, 
What  is  to  be  the  effect  of  Dr.  Briggs's  book  and  lecture 
on  young  men  generally,  and  on  students  in  particular, 
who  admire  his  courage  and  his  smartness,  and  especially 
on  those  who  are  troubled  with  religious  doubts,  or  who 
wish  or  expect  our  Bible  to  be  disintegrated  that  they 
may  be  free  from  its  restraints  ?  I  have  a  great  regard  for 
the  professor,  and  should  like  to  have  him  answer  his  own 
question  in  the  definite  form  in  which  I  have  stated  it. 

For  the  greater  part  of  my  life  my  main  intercourse  has 


2  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHEE  ? 

been  with  young  men  in  Scotland,  in  Ireland,  and  now  in 
America.  In  the  two  last  countries  I  have  had  thousands 
of  students  under  me.  I  confess  that  I  am  sensitively 
anxious  as  to  whatever  might  undermine  the  principles  of 
inquiring  youth.  My  aim  has  been  to  establish  them  in 
the  faith  of  the  realities  of  nature  and  revelation.  To- 
ward this  all  my  philosophy  and  all  my  teaching  have 
tended.  As  I  read  the  book  and  the  lecture,  I  was 
ever  asking,  IIow  are  they  to  influence  the  rising  genera- 
tion ?  I  know  the  excellencies  and  I  know  the  temptations 
of  young  men.  Young  men  have  been  the  originators  of 
nearly  every  great  reforming  movement.  It  is  equally 
well  known  that  ever  since  they  adhered  to  Jeroboam  tlie 
son  of  I^ebat,  "  who  made  Israel  to  sin,"  they  have  been 
dissatisfied  with  the  old,  and  asking  with  the  Athenians, 
What  new  thing  ? 

We  have  all  seen  the  notice  put  up  in  a  house  which  is 
being  built,  "  ]^o  smoking  allowed  on  the  premises."  On 
reading  Dr.  Briggs's  papers,  I  felt  as  if  this  warning  had 
been  disregarded,  and  as  if  I  saw  sparks  as  from  a  cigar 
flying  among  inflammable  materials.  Dr.  Briggs  has 
taken  a  step  beyond  his  American,  and  gone  on  with  his 
German,  teachers.  People  are  asking  whetlier  his  pupils 
may  not  logically  take  a  step  beyond  him,  and  give  him 
the  credit  of  it.  We  know  that  Robertson  Smith,  of 
Scotland,  who  caused  such  trouble  in  the  Church,  placed 
his  heresy  to  the  account  of  one  of  his  Free  Church  pro- 
fessors. The  ablest  man  cannot  always  guide  the  move- 
ments which  he  starts.  There  is  a  risk  in  opening  flood- 
gates. The  tourist  on  the  mountain  top  may  loose  a  stone, 
and  be  amazed  at  the  havoc  which  it  makes  as  it  de- 
scends. I  know  an  able  retired  professor  in  America 
whose  heart  is  almost  broken  as  he  looks  at  the  departure 
from  the  truth  of  his  pupils,  whose  early  faith  he  had  un- 


WHITHER  ?      O   AVIIITHER  ?  3 

dermined,  without  meaning  it,  by  using  startling  phrase- 
ology and  raising  questions  which  he  could  not  answer, 
and  stirring  up  doubts  which  he  could  not  allay. 

We  must  have  liberty — by  all  means  have  liberty. 
Christianity  was  liberty  to  those  who  felt  the  burdens  of 
Judaism  and  the  superstitions  of  heathenism.  Protestant- 
ism was  a  fight  for  deliverance  from  the  corruptions  of 
Popery.  Our  young  men  insist  on  freedom  of  thought 
and  action.  If  I  have  had  any  success  as  a  teacher,  I  owe 
it  in  some  measure  to  my  having  taken  great  care  to  allow 
liberty  of  thought  to  my  pupils  ;  I  stand  up  for  full  liberty 
of  inquiry  and  discussion,  for  liberty  to  discover  the  truth, 
to  abide  by  it,  to  proclaim  it,  and  defend  it. 

But  while  I  allowed  this,  I  never  failed  at  the  same 
time  to  enunciate  the  truth,  to  set  it  in  the  proper  light, 
to  give  the  history  of  opinions  in  regard  to  it,  to  explain, 
define,  and  defend  it,  and,  if  need  be,  answer  objections. 
I  am  happy  to  find  that  my  pupils,  almost  without  excep- 
tion, have  adhered  to  the  great  principles  (all  I  sought) 
of  religion  and  morality.  There  are  seven  young  men  in 
Ireland  and  eighty  in  America  who  studied  under  me  who 
are  now  professors;  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  they  are  all 
clinging  to  the  Word  of  God.  I  thank  God  and  man  for 
this.  Meanwhile,  I  read  Dr.  Briggs's  two  clever  works, 
and  inquire  what  positive  truths  he  has  laid  down  to  se- 
cure that  his  admiring  pupils  stand  by  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints.  lie  has  set  aside,  under  the  dispar- 
aging name  of  "traditional  theology,"  some  doctrines 
most  firmly  believed  by  educated  men  in  our  country. 
Has  he  set  forth  clearly  and  unequivocally  truths  which 
will  keep  young  men  stable  in  these  unstable  times  i  No 
man  expresses  himself  more  clearly  in  exposing  errors.  Is 
he  equally  careful  in  building  up  truth  ?  Thoughtful  men 
have  often  called  attention  to  the  perilousness  of  a  transi- 


4  WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHER  ? 

tion  period  when  young  men  have  to  pass  from  one  plane 
to  another — they  often  fall  in  sliding  from  the  one  to  the 
other.  Herbert  Spencer  has  expressed  his  anxiety  on  this 
subject.  In  tearing  up  the  tares  the  wheat  may  be  torn 
up  also. 


II. 

Whither  are  our  young  men  moving  ?  Some  are  al- 
ready answering.  Our  professor  says,  "  The  time  has 
come  for  the  reconstruction  of  theology,  of  polity  of  wor- 
ship, and  of  Christian  life  "  \^Pref.'].  "  A  new  reformation 
is  necessary  "  [p.  21],  as  if  pointing  to  a  reformation  like 
that  of  the  sixteenth  century.  "  The  ultimate  Christianity 
that  will  suit  our  race  will  be  as  much  higher  than  Protes- 
tantism, as  Protestantism  is  higher  than  Komanism"  [p. 
16].  The  hearts  of  our  young  men  are  beating  responsively 
to  these  statements.  A  few  are  boldly  expressing  their  feel- 
ings. We  have  come  to  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  theo- 
logical opinion.  Germany  is  supplying  us  with  a  New  Ref- 
ormation. We  are  free  from  the  bonds  which  have  con- 
tracted the  minds  and  oppressed  the  hearts  of  our  fathers. 
We  feel  as  if  a  new  country  were  opened  to  us.  A  long 
vista  is  before  us.  The  old  is  passing  away  like  the  night ; 
a  morning  full  of  promise  is  dawning.  We  are  about  to 
pass  out  of  the  wilderness  into  Canaan,  with  its  trees  and 
flowers,  its  hills  and  streams.  We  have  a  smaller  Bible, 
and  a  more  generous  method  of  interpreting  it ;  a  large 
portion  is  found  to  be  poetry.  We  have  a  freer  gospel  to 
listen  to,  a  more  liberal  gospel  to  preach.  We  have  a  heau 
sabreur,  a  dashing  hussar,  to  lead  us  on. 

Older  and  graver  men  are  looking  on  doubtingly  and 
anxiously.     They  say  :  We  have  heard  how  the  Presby- 


■WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  6 

terian  Churclies  in  England  became  Rationalists  and  Socin- 
ians  in  the  last  century.  We  have  read  how  the  blight  of 
moderatism  spread  over  the  Church  of  Scotland  and  ex- 
tinguished, as  by  a  chaff  bed,  all  religious  fervor.  "We 
are  familiar  with  the  story  of  Unitarianism  coming  over 
from  Old  England  into  Kew  England  and  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  how  it  has  caked  into  a  crystallized  deism,  or 
died  down  into  the  ashes  of  agnosticism.  There  are 
thoughtful  fathers  and  mothers  asking  whether  the  new 
movement  started  is  to  be  of  a  like  nature  and  equally 
lethal.  I  say  of  a  like  nature,  for  it  will  not  be  the  same. 
The  old  will  coane  in  new  forms.  The  Old  Serpent  is  too 
cunning  to  bring  forth  the  old  breed  whose  poison  has 
been  detected ;  a  new  species  will  be  gendered  in  these 
daj'S  of  evolution  with  very  specious  colors,  as  a  means,  to 
use  an  evolutionary  phrase,  of  protection.  Any  new  her- 
esy which  may  arise  will  not  take  the  old  type,  which 
every  Christian  now  abhors  as  having  had  so  deadly  an 
influence.  We  are  not  likely  to  be  troubled  with  a  cold 
and  clear  rationalism  of  the  Latin  or  French  school ;  the 
new  heresy  will  take  a  Teutonic  form,  as  being  born  in 
Germany,  and  will  be  rich  and  showy  as  the  child  and 
heir  of  the  Higher  Criticism  married  to  the  Ideal  Phi- 
losophy— now  changing  into  a  Sceptical  Philosophy. 


m. 


Whtthek  ?  To  Oermany  ?  Theologians  in  the  pres- 
ent day  cannot  do  without  Germany.  Hundreds  of  stu- 
dents, many  of  them  theologians,  are  studying  in  the 
universities  of  that  country  because  they  get  there  a  schol- 
arship which  they  cannot  find  in  the  four  hundred  col- 
leges of  America ;  not  even  from  the  leisured  divines  of  the 


6  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

Church  of  England  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  We  can- 
not hinder  our  young  men  from  visiting  Germany ;  the 
steamboats  and  railways  are  ready  to  carry  them.  The 
question  is  pressed  upon  us,  IIow  are  we  to  get  the  good 
without  the  evil  ? 

When  I  was  in  Germany  I  was  not  satisfied,  as  most 
American  students  are,  with  what  the  professoi^  sitting 
in  their  studies  are  thinking  and  writing.  I  studiously 
conversed  with  people  of  all  sorts,  from  Earl  Goltz,  Sec- 
retary of  the  King,  Baron  von  Humboldt,  and  Chevalier 
von  Bunsen,  down  through  the  merchants,  farmers,  me- 
chanics, to  the  beer-drinking  classes  in  the  saloons.  Of 
all  countries  in  w^iicli  I  have  travelled,  Germany  seems  to 
have  the  least  religion.  Not  that  the  people  are  in  gen- 
eral undevout.  Their  religious  hymns,  so  deep  and  tender, 
have  kept  alive  a  natural  piety  even  when  it  does  not  ex- 
press itself  in  formal  acts.  When  I  asked  the  common 
people  about  what  they  believed,  w^hich  I  always  did  in  a 
delicate  way,  they  often  answered  me.  We  make  a  religion 
for  ourselves  which  suits  us.  The  churches  are  not  at- 
tended by  the  great  body  of  respectable  people.  I  have 
gone  on  the  Sabbath  to  a  large  number  of  the  churches  in 
Hamburg  and  Berlin.  These  are  few  in  number  in  pro- 
portion to  the  population  ;  tliey  are  very  large,  and  in  most 
of  them  I  found  an  attendance  of  only  a  few  hundreds. 
On  one  of  these  Sabbaths  there  were  thirty  thousand 
people  of  good  social  standing  at  a  masked  ball.  I  con- 
versed with  the  prof essors,  other  than  the  theological  ones, 
on  religion  ;  with  a  German  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  they 
said,  We  have  not  studied  these  subjects,  we  leave  them  to 
the  theologians  over  the  way.  One  of  these  said  :  "  They  do 
not  believe  their  Bible,  they  have  hewed  it  in  pieces  like 
Agag — I  have  gathered  up  some  of  the  fragments,  and  I 
like  them." 


WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  7 

I  charge  the  theologians  with  having  produced  this  state 
of  things.  They  sent  out  ministers  wlio  had  no  faith  in 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  The  people  were  shrewd 
enough  to  see  this — it  came  out  incidentally  in  a  number 
of  ways — and  they  ceased  to  read  their  Bibles  and  to  at- 
tend church  with  regularity,  as  they  do  in  this  country. 
I  confess  that  in  passing  out  of  Protestant  Prussia  into 
Catholic  Austria  I  felt  as  if  I  were  passing  out  of  an  arc- 
tic into  a  tropical  zone,  with  no  temperate  region  between. 

But  we  nuistgo  down  deeper.  Ilow  comes  it  that  there 
are  such  theologians,  so  unlike  those  we  have  in  this 
country  ?  All  thinking  people  will  give  the  same  answer. 
It  is  because  the  theological  professors  are  appointed 
and  ruled  by  the  State.  Ilerr  Kuntze,  pastor  of  one  of 
the  large  churches,  which  he  kept  filled  because  he  was 
a  fervent  evangelical,  told  me  a  characteristic  incident. 
There  was  a  deep  religious  interest  in  his  parish,  the  peo- 
ple wished  to  have  prayer-meetings,  and  he  applied  to 
what  he  thought  to  be  the  proper  authority.  Ilis  paper 
was  sent  back,  and  he  was  told  to  apply  in  another  quarter. 
He  did  so,  and  the  paper  was  returned  to  be  amended,  and 
it  passed  from  official  to  ofiicial  till  he  obtained  liberty  to 
meet  for  prayer  exactly  one  year  after  he  made  the  first 
application. 

Tills  state  of  things  will  continue  till  the  Church  secures 
complete  freedom  from  State  interference,  and  especially 
from  the  control  of  the  Iron  Prince,  who  is  a  great  ruler 
in  civil  affairs,  but  who  is  cramping  the  energies  of  the 
Church.  AVlien  the  command  goes  forth  as  to  the  Cliurcli, 
Loose  it  and  let  it  go  free,  then  we  shall  liave  a  different 
set  of  pastors  and  teachers  and  a  different  kind  of  pi-eacli- 
ing — and,  I  may  add,  of  theological  professors.  The  great- 
est good  which  any  man  could  do  for  the  religion  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe  would  be  to  set  the  Churches  free. 


8  WHITHER?      O   WHITHER? 

In  this  my  old  age,  I  rejoice  that  in  my  youth  I  had  the 
grace  given  me  to  bear  my  testimony  in  behalf  of  the  free- 
dom of  the  Church,  even  though  I  had  thereby  to  give  up 
one  of  the  most  enviable  livings  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
without  knowing  at  the  time  where  I  was  to  get  another. 
My  hope  is  that  this  our  testimony  may  yet  bear  fruit  in 
breakins:  the  shackles  which  bind  the  old  State  Churches 
of  Europe,  and  let  the  Christian  people  have  their  heaven- 
born  privileges.  This  would  produce  a  new  kind  of  min- 
istry and  a  ne\y  kind  of  theological  teachers — I  hope,  with 
the  old  learning,  but  with  a  new  faith. 

We  run  no  risk  in  America  of  the  Churches  submitting 
to  the  rule  of  the  Congress  or  of  the  Law  Courts.  But 
the  American  Churches  must  take  care  that  their  belief  in 
the  Bible  be  not  undermined  by  an  agnostic  philosophy 
and  an  unhallowed  criticism  proceeding  from  the  Erastian 
teachers  of  Germany.  As  a  most  important  duty,  the 
Churches  must  provide  theological  professors  with  an 
erudition  equal  to  that  of  Germany.  Till  this  is  done  our 
young  men  will  flock  like  birds  in  autumn  to  the  superior 
erudition  of  Europe.  When  our  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry do  go  to  Germany,  it  should  not  be  till  they  are 
trained  in  good  principles  at  home  and  ready  to  sift  the 
philosophy  and  theology  of  that  country. 

Of  late  there  has  been  such  an  immigration  of  German 
theories  that  even  those  of  us  most  disposed  toward  free- 
dom of  thought  may  have  to  take  measures  for  protec- 
tion. Andover  lives  mainly  on  German  thinking,  and  if 
Union  joins  Andover — not  in  formal  covenant  but  in  a 
common  belief  and  unbelief — we  may  M-ell  be  anxious 
about  the  teaching  and  preaching  of  the  rising  ministry. 
When  some  young  minister  boldly  tells  his  hearers  from 
the  pulpit  of  an  Old  Liglit  Church  in  New  York  or 
Philadelphia,  what  he  himself  has  been  taught  in  his  sem- 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  9 

inary,  tliat  tlie  Five  Books  of  Moses  were  not  written  by 
Moses,  and  that  Genesis  and  the  early  Scriptures  are  not 
history  but  collected  poems,  then  the  Church  courts  will 
be  aroused  and  the  crisis  has  come. 


IV. 

WuiTUEK  ?  What  are  we  to  make  of  creeds  f  These 
are  set  for  the  defence  of  the  truth.  They  do  not  con- 
stitute our  valued  property,  they  are  simply  fences  to  keep 
off  intruders.  "  Without  are  dogs."  The  tendency  of 
landscape  gardening  in  the  present  day  is  to  remove  fences, 
in  order  to  give  more  of  the  appearance  and  air  of  free- 
dom. There  is  a  like  disposition  to  remove  old  fences  in 
religion.  Still,  we  need  such  demarcations  to  protect  our 
cherished  faith.  We  have  to  secure  that  we  do  not  send 
forth  preachers  to  proclaim  to  our  people  a  gospel  which 
is  not  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  salvation,  but  another  gos- 
pel. This  is  done,  by  some  religious  bodies,  by  a  Council 
examining  candidates  for  the  ministry.  But  it  is  most 
effectively  done  by  a  printed  document  which  anyone 
may  read  and  know  what  our  Church  believes,  and  pro- 
bationers may  study  and  know  what  is  required  of  them. 

But  in  the  formation  of,  and  subscription  to,  a  new 
creed,  there  is  need  of  great  carefulness,  delicacy,  and  ten- 
derness. There  arc  two  all-important  points  to  be  at- 
tended to. 

First,  excessive  care  must  be  taken  that  every  article 
in  thought  and  language  be  founded  on  the  Word  of 
God,  and  be  in  strict  accordance  with  it.  We  must  not 
lower  the  standard  to  suit  it  to  the  sentiment  of  the  day. 
The  Word  of  God  was  given  us  to  elevate  public  opinion, 
and  not  to  be  lowered  by  it.     On  the  other  hand,  we  must 


10  WHITHEE?      O   WHITHER? 

avoid  harsh  expressions  (we  have  a  few  such  in  the  West- 
minster Standards)  which  are  supposed  to  be  drawn  from 
Scripture,  but  may  not  be  so.  I  might  reverently  accept 
from  God,  in  the  Bible,  language  which  I  would  not  take 
from  fallible  man. 

We  must  be  especially  on  our  guard  against  the  use  of 
what  I  call  Inferential  Theology.  The  deepest  law  in 
physics  is  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  effect  which  was 
not  potentially  in  the  cause  ;  and  the  fundamental  law  in 
logic  is  that  there  be  nothing  in  the  conclusion  which  is 
not  contained  in  the  premises.  We  must  be  very  careful 
in  drawing  conclusions  in  the  higher  regions  of  theology — 
so  far  above  the  earth — where  the  sovereignty  of  God, 
preordination,  election,  reprobation,  and  the  salvation  of 
infants,  and  heathens  to  whom  Christ  has  not  been 
preached,  are  discussed.  Divines  at  times  rashly  rush 
into  the  holiest  of  all,  where  angels  would  veil  their  faces 
with  their  wings.  Dr.  Briggs  says  that  we  must  have 
speculation  in  theology.  The  individual  thinker  may  in- 
dulge in  this  as  he  pleases,  as  Origen  and  the  mediaeval 
mystics  did,  but  as  he  performs  his  gymnastics  on  these 
heights  he  is  apt  to  falter  and  fall,  amid  the  laughter 
of  wiser  men  ;  it  was  Luther  who  said  that  angels  amuse 
themselves  with  the  theological  speculations  of  men — how 
he  knew  this,  without  speculating  himself,  I  cannot  tell. 
To  carry  up  human  theories  into  high  heavenly  truths  is 
like  constructing  walls  and  planning  railways  in  the  em- 
pyrean above  the  clouds.  I  believe  most  devoutly  in  the 
good  sovereignty  of  God,  but  I  refuse  to  let  human  logic 
draw  conclusions  which  would  strip  man  of  his  freedom 
and  thereby  free  him  from  responsibility. 

Secondly,  those  who  subscribe  the  creed  have  to  do  it 
in  good  faith.  I  am  afraid  that  there  is  too  much  of 
loose  signatures  in  the  Churches.     There  is  a  temptation 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  11 

here  to  which  office-bearers  in  State  endowed  Churches 
are  especially  exposed.  Ministers  cannot  get  their  livings, 
and  they  and  their  elders  cannot  enter  upon  their  spheres 
of  usefulness,  till  they  sign  a  creed,  perhaps  a  very  com- 
plicated one.  In  consequence,  they  are  very  apt  to  attach 
their  signatures,  following,  without  perceiving  it,  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  end  justifies  the  means.  The  issue  is  that 
ever  and  anon  the  idea  comes  upon  them  that  this  is 
wrong,  is  seen  by  God,  and  may  come  to  be  seen  by  men  ; 
and  this  rankles  in  their  bosom  to  make  them  unhappy, 
at  times  wretched.  I£  they  crush  it,  as  it  is  possible  to 
do,  the  conscience  is  deadened  and  their  zeal  for  the  faith 
is  hindered. 

I  have  come  in  contact  with  many  such  cases.  In  my 
younger  years,  when  good  men  were  seeking  to  throw  off 
the  incubus  of  moderatism  which  was  still  lying  on  the 
church,  I  knew  ministers  who  had  signed  the  Westminster 
Standards,  with  all  their  articles,  without  believing  thein. 
Their  unbelief  came  out  to  view  by  what  they  said  in  the 
freedom  of  conversation,  at  times  in  their  sermons  and  pub- 
lic addresses.  As  I  rode  round  in  my  probationer's  days, 
preaching  for  them,  they  not  infrequently  confessed  that 
they  were  not  prepared  to  stand  by  all  that  is  in  the  Confes- 
sion, and  suggested  to  me,  as  a  young  man,  that  I  need  not 
be  very  particular  or  precise  about  what  I  signed.  I  was 
baptized  by  an  accomplished  parish  minister,  afterward  a 
professor,  who  was  believed,  on  good  grounds,  to  be  a  Socin- 
ian.  I  have  preserved  a  volume  of  his  sermons  in  which 
there  is  not  one  word  of  gospel  from  beginning  to  end.  I 
have  before  me  a  volume  of  Scotch  Sermons^  as  they  are 
called,  issued  a  few  years  ago  by  ministers  of  high  literary 
attainment,  but  who  show  that  they  do  not  hold  by  the 
doctrines  of  the  creed  which  they  have  signed.  The  suspi- 
cion of  this  gets  abroad  among  the  shrewdest  of  the  people. 


12  WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHER  ? 

and  they  cannot  listen  with  patience  to  the  ministrations 
of  those  who  preach  what  (it  is  so  alleged)  they  do  not  be- 
lieve. In  my  younger  years  I  had  to  argue  with  hard- 
headed  mechanics  who  would  not  be  convinced  that  their 
parish  clergy  were  not  hypocrites.  Such  scenes  as  these 
provoked  and  moved  me  till  I  threw  myself,  body,  soul, 
and  spirit,  into  that  movement  which  blasted  for  the  time 
my  earthly  prospects,  but  gained  a  victory  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

In  my  intercourse  with  German  peasants  and  store- 
keepers, I  tried  to  find  how  it  was  that  while  they  did  not 
profess  to  be  infidels  they  did  not  go  to  the  house  of  God 
on  the  Sabbath  ;  and  the  answer  commonly  given,  when  I 
could  gain  their  confidence,  was  that  their  parish  pastors 
had  evidently  no  faith  in  the  Bible  from  which  they 
preached.  I  cannot  conceive  a  Church  to  be  in  a  more  de- 
plorable state  than  one  in  which  there  is  an  evident  incon- 
sistency between  the  professed  creed  and  the  actual  belief 
of  those  who  minister  in  the  Word.  I  do  hope  that  as  the 
issue  of  this  discussion  about  the  revision  of  the  West- 
minster Standards  we  shall  all,  old  men  and  young,  have  a 
more  sensitive  apprehension  of  the  responsibility  involved 
in  the  formation  of  creeds  and  the  subscription  to  them. 


WnrrHER  ?  The  drift  of  the  Westminster  Standards  ? 
Dr.  Briggs  is  well  acquainted  with  their  history.  He 
has  a  large  library  of  books  bearing  on  this  subject.  He 
has  given  us  many  extracts  from  these.  Let  us  look  at 
the  conclusions  which  he  has  reached.  "  We  must  recog- 
nize that  there  are  inadequate  statements,  and  even  errors 
of  doctrine  [mark,  even  of  doctrine]  in  the  Westminster 


WHITHER?      O    WHITHER?  13 

standards  and  the  great  creeds  of  the  Reformation  "  [p.  274], 
If  this  be  so,  it  is  surely  the  immediate  duty  of  the  Tres- 
byteriau  and  the  other  Churches  springing  from  the  llef- 
ormation  to  supply  these  inadequacies,  to  correct  these 
errors,  and  to  avoid  pressing  them  on  our  young  candidates 
for  the  ministry. 

The  burden  of  Dr.  Briggs's  book  is  to  show  that  the 
Presbyteiian  Church  has  departed  from  its  creed  ;  that,  in 
fact,  all  the  Protestant  Churches  have  done  so.  It  is  hu- 
miliating and  painful  to  read  his  charges,  clearly,  unmis- 
takably, and  emphatically  made.  "  The  "Westminster  sys- 
tem has  been  virtually  displaced  by  the  teaching  of  the 
dogmatic  divines.  It  is  no  longer  practically  the  standard 
of  the  faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  The  Catechisms 
are  not  taught  in  our  churches,  the  Confession  is  not  ex- 
pounded in  our  theological  seminaries.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  is  not  orthodox  judged  by  its  own  standards.  It 
has  neither  the  old  orthodoxy  nor  the  new  orthodoxy. 
It  is  in  perplexity.  It  is  drifting  toward  an  unknown  and 
mysterious  future  "  [p,  223] ,  On  hearing  these  charges, 
our  old  men  who  have  been  upholding  the  Presbyterian 
Church  will  stand  aghast.  Our  young  men,  especially 
those  intending  for  the  ministry,  will  widen  their  eyes  in 
wonder.  But  they  must  listen  to  more.  "  Modern  Pres- 
byterianisni  has  departed  from  the  Westminster  Standards 
all  along  the  line"  [/Ve/l  viii.].  The  young  man  asks. 
Can  I  conscientiously  or  comfortably  join  the  Presbyterian 
Church  ?  But  he  has  to  read  on.  "  In  the  manner  of 
w^orship  the  tendency  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
been  from  bad  to  worse  since  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly"  [p.  49].  But  this  is  not  all.  "The  modern  Presby- 
terian Church  has  departed  from  the  Westminster  tiivines 
in  its  standards  of  morals  and  good  works,  and  there  i.s  a 
lack  of  definite  views  among  the  ministry  and  the  theo- 


14  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

logians  in  the  whole  department  of  Christian  ethics.  The 
whole  doctrine  of  sanctification  is  in  confusion"  [p.  157]. 

The  Episcopalians,  the  Methodists,  the  Baptists,  the 
Congregationalists  ask  our  youth  what  he  thinks.  He 
concludes  that  he  must  abandon  the  Church  of  his  fathers. 
However,  there  are  other  Churches.  But  the  charge  be- 
comes more  sweeping.  "  The  traditional  theology  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  West- 
minster symbols.  If  we  should  take  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  we  should  find  that  the  Episcopal 
Churches  are  in  a  similar  situation.  We  should  find  that 
the  Methodist,  the  Baptist,  the  Lutheran,  indeed,  all  de- 
nominations of  Christians,  have  departed  from  their  stand- 
ards and  are  in  the  drift  of  the  nineteenth  century  "  [p. 
225].  Whither  ?  the  youth  asks.  I  may  devote  my  life  to 
the  work  of  clearing  the  Ciiurcli  from  this  corrupt  mass 
of  inconsistency,  hypocrisy,  and  treachery.  But  the  work 
is  an  Herculean  one,  it  is  the  cleansins:  of  an  Augean 
stable  ;  I,  who  am  no  Hercules,  cannot  abide  in  this  offen- 
sive atmosphere.  Anywhere  rather  than  to  the  Church  ; 
to  law,  to  medicine,  to  business,  to  store-keeping,  to  the 
honest  trade  of  a  shoemaker,  or  tailor.  I  loved  the 
Church,  I  meant  to  make  her  my  bride.  I  shed  a  tear  as 
I  part  from  her ;  but  there  is  no  help  for  it,  she  is  fallen 
and  disgraced. 

What  can  be  the  meaning  of  the  professor  of  theology 
in  bringing  all  these  charges  against  his  Church,  ^o 
doubt  he  believes  them.  I  am  sure  he  is  sincere.  I  can- 
not look  into  the  heart  and  judge  of  his  motives.  1  must 
believe  them  to  be  good.  _  But  I  am  entitled  to  look  to 
the  whither  of  his  views  and  proposals.  He  tells  us :  "  The 
statements  of  the  Westminster  symbols  are  by  no  means 
perfect,  they  are  capable  of  revision  and  improvement." 
Does  he,  then,  propose  to  revise  and  amend  ?     He  tells  us. 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  15 

emphaticallj,  ^^  Progress  is  not  in  that  direction."  In 
what  direction,  then  ?  The  young  men  will  carry  out  his 
principles,  and  answer  that  question. 

He  gives  us  a  great  many  quotations  from  the  other 
works  of  the  Westminster  divines  and  their  contempo- 
raries. It  was  scarcely  necessuiy  for  him  to  do  this.  They 
are  so  clear  and  plain  that  they  do  not  need  othei-  works 
to  elucidate  them.  The  great  body  of  the  great  Puritan 
preachers  inculcate  the  same  truths  in  much  the  same 
language,  which  is  that  of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  Here 
I  am  tempted  to  express  a  wish  that  the  professor  had 
given  the  same  recommendation  as  Clialmers  did  ever  and 
anon  to  us  his  pupils,  to  fill  their  hearts  with  the  practi- 
cal writings  of  the  great  Puritan  divines,  such  as  Baxter, 
Howe,  Marshal,  Owen,  and  Charnock.  Ko  appeals  so 
direct  and  searching  as  theirs,  so  faithful  and  so  loving. 
I  am  sure  I  got  immeasurable  good  from  following  the 
counsel  of  my  great  master. 

Without  claiming  any  great  shrewdness,  I  think  I  see 
the  loliither  of  these  attacks  on  the  creeds.  A  full  ac- 
count is  given  of  their  variations,  from  age  to  age.  Their 
defects  and  mistakes  are  carefully  specified.  Ko  proposal 
is  made,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  to  bring  back  students,  minis- 
ters, and  divines  to  the  standards  pure  and  simple.  Prog- 
ress is  not  made  in  that  direction.  I  fear  the  impression 
left  is  that  in  the  subscription  to  the  symbols  there  is 
great  liberty  allowed  ;  that  there  is  very  little  binding  obli- 
gation in  the  Standards  of  the  Church  ;  that  we  may  make 
of  them  what  we  please,  choosing  this  and  avoiding 
that ;  that  we  may  look  upon  them  as  a  precious  relic  of 
a  by-gone  day  ;  as  an  instructive  fossil  telling  us  of  the 
imperfect  formations  of  earlier  ages  ;  and  that  meanwhile 
we  must  have  the  truth  advance  and  become  more  attrac- 
tive and,  therefore,  more  effective.     iS'o  attempt  is  nuide 


16  WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHER  ? 

to  counteract  this  bj  showing,  what  it  would  not  be  diffi- 
cult to  do,  the  substantial  sameness,  with  very  slight  diver- 
sities, of  the  doctrine  of  all  the  Churches  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  identity  of  this  doctrine  with  that  which  has 
been  held  all  along  by  the  American  Presbyterian  Church 
down  to  the  present  day. 

The  professor  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary 
seems  to  be  particularly  anxious  about  the  orthodoxy  of 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  As  these  two  institu- 
tions are  rivals,  people  think  that  the  charges  against  Dr. 
Charles  Hodge  and  his  son.  Dr.  Alexander  A.  Ilodge,  are  far 
from  being  gracious  or  becoming.  My  conviction  was,  until 
now,  that  the  same  doctrine  is  taught  in  both  seminaries. 
It  would  be  a  most  unhappy  thing  to  find  a  different  im- 
pression getting  abroad.  Charles  Hodge  is  referred  to 
sixteen  times  in  Whither,  and  Alexander  Hodge  twenty- 
eight  times,  in  most  cases  to  be  found  fault  with.  Both 
are  charged  with  departing  from  tlie  Standai-ds.  On  first 
reading  this  I  felt  the  accusation  to  be  simply  ridiculous, 
and  this  feeling  deepened  when  I  found  the  charges  re- 
peated again  and  again.  It  would  be  equally  ridiculous  to 
attempt  to  prove  the  orthodoxy  of  the  great  Princeton  di- 
vines. Both  father  and  son  express  their  views  so  clearly 
and  so  fully  that  he  who  runs  may  read.  When  they 
need  a  defence  a  thousand  swords  will  be  drawn  from 
their  scabbards  by  pupils  and  followers. 

The  two  modern  divines  pi-esent  the  truth  under  a 
somewhat  different  aspect  and  in  somewhat  different  lan- 
guage from  those  in  which  it  appears  in  the  seventeenth 
century  symbols.  But  the  truth  is  one  and  the  same.  It 
is  the  same  body  in  a  somewhat  different  dress ;  it  is  the 
same  proclamation  in  different  tongues.  I  was  trained  in  a 
school  somewhat  different  from  either  the  Westminster  or 
the  Princeton  schools,  under  the  eloquent  and  philosophic 


WIIITnER  ?      O   WniTHER  ?  17 

Chalmers.  But  I  am  happy  to  find  that  the  truth  set  forth 
in  each  of  these  schools — if,  indeed,  they  can  be  so  called — 
are  the  same,  the  very  same.  I  regard  this  as  a  very  satis- 
factory evidence  of  the  unity  of  the  Protestant  faith.  Bat- 
ino-  a  few  statements  and  expressions,  not  sanctioned,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  in  Scripture,  I  could  sign  each  of  the  three 
theological  systems  and  not  be  guilty  of  even  apparent  in- 
consistency. I  am  not  so  sure  tliat  I  could  sign  the  creed 
of  Dr.  Briggs,  if  he  and  his  followers  succeed  in  estab- 
lishing one.  It  is  a  very  dexterous  move  to  attack  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  Princeton  divines.*  For  if  the  Old 
School  men  are  not  meddled  with  in  departing  from  the 
Confession,  we  Xew  Light  men  may  do  the  same,  though 
in  a  different  direction,  without  being  disturbed.  If  any 
Old  School  man  charges  us  with  departing  from  the  Stand- 
ards, we  can  reply,  by  a  powerful  argwnentum  ad  horii'nicm^ 
You  are  not  entitled  to  attack  us,  for  you  are  guilty  of  tlie 
same  offence.  In  short,  we  have  all  departed  from  what 
we  have  subscribed,  and  the  sooner  some  of  us  younger 
men  unite  to  fashion  a  new  and  more  liberal  creed  the 
better ;  a  creed  that  will  admit  the  German  neology  which 
interprets  the  Bible  more  accurately.  All  this  is  very  dex- 
terous, I  say,  but  it  may  turn  out  that  the  weapon  which 
is  used  with  such  agility  may  be  turned  against  him  who 
employs  it. 


YI. 

"WniTHER  ?  The  Revision  of  the  Standards  ?  I  have 
announced  to  the  presbytery  to  Avhich  I  belong  the  posi- 
tion which  I  have  definitely  taken.    I  am  anxious  it  should 

*  It  is  what  is  vulgarly  called,  The  advantage  of  having  the  first  word 
of  scolding. 

2 


18  WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHER  ? 

be  known,  and  so  I  insert  it  here,  that  I  may  not  be  identi- 
fied with  those  who  hope  in  the  revision  to  leave  out  or  to 
alter  the  grand  old  doctrines  of  our  Church  clearly  con- 
tained in  the  Word  of  God  : 

Ever  since  I  became  a  teacher  of  the  science  of  mind  I 
have  given  more  attention  to  philosophy  than  theology. 
In  doing  this,  I  have  been  able  to  serve  religion  more  ef- 
fectively than  by  any  other  course  which  1  could  take.  My 
philosophy  is  realistic,  being  an  exposition  of  the  facts  of 
our  nature,  and  being  so,  it  must  be  favorable  to  the  Script- 
ures, which  reveal  to  us  what  we  are  as  no  other  work 
has  done.  But  I  have  been  watching  all  along  the  signs 
of  the  times,  and  feel  it  to  be  honest  to  make  known  my 
views  in  every  crisis  of  opinion  in  the  Church.  Hitherto 
I  have  not  favored  a  revision  of  our  Standards,  but  tlie 
time  has  come  when  we  must  face  the  question  which  is 
now  being  put  in  the  Presbyterian  Churches  all  over  the 
world.  I  know  there  is  some  risk  in  stirring  up  the  in- 
quiry, but  there  is  more  danger  in  trying  to  ignore  or  sup- 
press it — which,  in  fact,  cannot  now  be  done.  Our  stu- 
dents, our  3'oung  men  generally,  and  our  laity,  are  raising 
the  question,  and  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  the  Church  to 
face  it  boldly  and  to  guide  the  movement  in  the  right  di- 
rection. There  are  some  passages  in  the  Confession  of 
Faith  and  in  the  Larger  Catechism  of  which  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  they  are  founded  on  the  Word  of  God 
and  which  ai-e  offensive  in  their  expression.  Further, 
there  is  a  want  of  a  clear  and  prominent  utterance,  such 
as  we  have  in  the  Scriptures,  of  the  love  of  God,  as  shown 
in  the  redemption  of  Christ,  which  is  sufficient  for  all  men, 
and  in  the  free  and  honest  offer  of  salvation  to  all  men,  non- 
elect  as  well  as  elect.  For  the  last  thirty -nine  j^ears  of  my 
life  my  intercourse  has  been  chiefly  with  young  men  who 
are  apt  to  open  their  hearts  to  me  as  knowing  that  I  sym- 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  19 

patliize  with  them.  Most  of  our  young  men  have  not 
paid  much  attention  to  the  Confession,  but  they  will  now 
do  so,  and  as  they  do  so  they  will  find  certain  passages 
Icnotty,  crabbed,  and  hard  to  digest.  1  do  fear  that  some 
of  onr  best  young  men  who  meant  to  become  ministers 
may  be  allured  away  to  other  professions,  and  that  those 
who  go  on  to  preach  the  gospel  will  find  themselves  an- 
noyed and  hindered  by  unwarranted  expressions  staring 
tliein  in  the  face.  In  these  circumstances,  I  am  of  opinion 
that  the  Church  should  as  speedily  as  possible  leave  out  a 
few  obnoxious  passages  not  at  all  needful  to  the  complete- 
ness of  the  expression  of  the  system  of  doctrine,  and  put 
in  the  very  front  a  full  declaration  of  God's  love  to  men 
and  a  free  offer  of  salvation.  This  being  done  for  the 
present,  the  Church  should  hold  itself  ready  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  years  and  ages  as  they  roll  on.  I  am  not 
sure  whether  the  present  terms  of  subscription  to  the 
Standards  will  be  sufficient  in  the  distant  or  even  in  the 
near  f utui-e.  Some  of  our  younger  men  are  saying  :  "  No- 
body believes  all  the  Confession,  everybody  rejects  some 
parts,  I  may  reject  what  displeases  me."  At  this  present 
time  we  get  more  than  half  our  erudition  from  Germany, 
but  also  more  than  one-half  of  our  heresies.  Our  Con- 
fession meets  the  heresies  of  the  seventeenth,  but  not 
the  more  insidious  ones  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
Church  has  now  to  see  that  it  has  professors  in  our  semi- 
naries equal  in  learning  to  those  in  Germany.  Ever  since 
the  Reformation,  the  Church  lias  been  amending  its  Con- 
fession. I  confess  that  I  should  like  to  have  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  a  shorter  and  simpler  creed  than  the 
Westminster  Confession.  At  the  same  time  our  creed, 
be  it  shorter  or  be  it  longer,  must  contain  all  the  saving 
truths  embraced  in  the  consensus  of  the  Churches.  I  be- 
lieve that  in  the  acre  on  which  we  have  now  entered  the 


20  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

Church  will  have  to  engage  in  a  fight  for  "  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints."  I  hold  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  is  quite  fit  for  that  work.  I  deny  that  the  great 
body  of  its  ministers  are  Arrainian  or  half-Arminian.  I 
deny  that  Charles  Hodge  or  Alexander  Hodge  have  de- 
parted from  the  Confession  of  Faith.  They  may  differ 
at  times  in  the  aspect  they  present  and  the  phrases  they 
use,  but  the  truths  are  the  same — those  of  the  old  Pauline 
theology.  It  was  my  privilege  some  years  ago  to  bring 
all  the  evangelical  Presbyterian  Churches  throughout  the 
world  into  an  Alliance.  To  accomplish  this,  I  crossed  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  three  or  four  times,  corresponded  with 
hundreds  of  individuals,  and  with  dozens  of  Churches.  In 
drawing  out  the  Constitution  of  the  Alliance,  I  took  pains 
to  let  each  Church  have  its  own  creed.  In  the  agitation 
now  raised  each  Church  will  have  to  consider  what  is  to  be 
its  Confession.  Meanwhile  I  trust  the  Churches  will  cor- 
respond with  one  another,  and  each  help  the  other.  This 
will  not  be  done  this  year  or  next  year,  but  will  be  the 
work  of  years  to  come.  As  the  issue,  there  will  be  a  closer 
union  and  a  wider  extension  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
all  over  the  world. 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  have  proposed  an  omission  of 
some  statements  and  phrases  in  our  Confession  and  Cate- 
chisms. I  have  done  so  because,  in  the  course  which  we 
should  pursue  in  defending  the  truth,  we  should  not  be 
burdened  with  baggage,  which  the  Romans  called  invpedi- 
menta. 

But,  it  is  urged  by  some,  we  are  not  required  to  accept 
the  ipsisshna  verba,  or  all  the  statements,  of  the  Standards, 
Why  need  we  trouble  ourselves  with  the  amendment  of 
our  symbols  ?  To  this  I  have  to  answer,  first,  that  we  have 
to  be  troubled  with  them  whether  we  wish  it  or  not.  The 
movement  in  a  number  of  Churches  all  over  the  world. 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  21 

and  the  overwhelming  majority  in  the  New  York  Presby- 
tery, show  this  clearly.  But,  as  far  more  important,  we 
should  see  that  our  Standards  are  made  as  perfect  as  possi- 
ble ;  this  we  owe  to  the  Church  and  the  world.  If  in  our 
personal  conduct  we  have  made  a  rash  statement,  we  hasten 
to  correct  it ;  if  we  have  done  an  unworthy  deed,  we  hasten 
to  make  reparation.  We  should  act  on  the  same  principle  in 
dealing  with  our  visible  creed.  If  the  divines  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  have  used  an  unguarded  expression',  if  they 
have  sanctioned  a  doubtful  doctrine  or  stated  a  truth  im- 
perfectly, let  ns  correct  it  as  speedily  as  possible.  I  know 
that,  when  any  Presbyterian  threatens  to  leave  our  Church 
and  join  the  Episcopal  or  Methodist  Church,  there  are 
people  who  show  him  certain  obnoxious  passages  in  our 
symbolic  books  to  draw  him  away  from  us.  If  these  are 
not  necessary  to  our  faith  and  salvation — and,  still  more, 
if  they  be  not  found  expressly  in  the  "Word — it  is  surely 
wise  to  remove  them.  Till  this  is  done  there  is  no  pros- 
pect of  union  with  other  evangelical  denominations.  As 
I  am  writing  this  sentence,  I  receive  a  letter  from  a  Metho- 
dist minister,  president  of  a  college,  saying  that  if  my  plan 
is  carried  out  he  will  be  ready  at  once  to  sign  our  Confes- 
sion. 

Dr.  Cunningham,  the  great  logical  theologian  of  Scot- 
land, used  to  say  :  "  I  have  no  objection  to  a  revision  of  the 
Confession,  provided  it  is  done  by  one  who  believes  in  the 
Confession."  If  revision  be  carried,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
there  will  be  a  hard  contest  about  what  the  amended  creed 
should  contain.  If  it  be  a  duty  to  amend  our  Confession, 
it  is  a  still  more  important  duty  to  see  that  it  contains  all 
the  great  truths  of  salvation.  If  I  am  spared  a  few  years 
longer,  which,  however,  I  have  no  reason  to  expect,  I  may 
be  found  contending  for  the  sanctioning  of  such  truths  as 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  authority  of  Scripture,  the  deity  of 


22  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

Christ,  and  the  atonement  for  sin,  should  there  be  any  at- 
tempt to  displace  them. 


VII. 

Whither  ?  The  Bible  f  We  are  now  on  holy  ground. 
"  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where- 
on thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  We  have  to  put  off  all 
levity.  We  have  to  inquire,  What  is  really  the  Word  of 
God  ?  Having  found  this,  we  dare  not  add  to  it  nor  take 
from  it.  There  are  positions  here  which  we  cannot  sur- 
render without  being  traitors  to  our  Great  King.  It  is 
this  tliought  which  has  led  me  to  leave  my  usual  studies 
for  a  time,  in  order  to  give  my  feeble  testimony  to  what 
God  has  been  pleased  to  reveal  to  us. 

I  have  before  my  mind's  eye  a  young  man  of  bright 
parts  and  intelligence.  He  has  been  trained  by  his  father 
and  mother,  by  his  Sabbath-school  teachers,  and  by  his 
minister,  in  the  common  American  faith  as  to  the  Bible, 
and  is  confirmed  in  it  by  finding  all  his  associates  cher- 
ishing the  same  belief.  A  student  of  theology  lends  him 
Whither  ?  and  the  Lecture  on  Biblical  History,  and 
tells  him  they  are  written  by  his  able  and  learned  pro- 
fessor of  theology.  He  sets  himself  to  read  them  with 
high  expectation,  and  we  watch  him  as  he  proceeds. 

He  has  been  told  that  the  Pentateuch  was  written  by 
Moses  under  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  he  believes  that 
the  events  recorded  there,  such  as  the  Creation  of  the 
World  and  the  Fall  of  Man,  are  realities.  The  preaching 
of  his  minister,  and  his  doctrine,  all  proceed  on  the  belief 
that  the  narrative  is  true.  But  the  new  Book  tells  him 
that  "  recent  criticisms  have  shown  that  the  Pentateuch 
is  composed  of  four  parallel  narratives  with  four  codes 


WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  23 

of  legislation"  [p.  283].  By  a  searching  criticism  the 
German  critics  have  found  what  parts  were  written  by 
each  of  the  four  different  w^riters.  "  We  have  by  care- 
ful induction  gathered  the  theology  of  each  of  the  docu- 
ments by  itself  and  then  compared  them,  and  have  found 
such  a  thorough-going  difference  that  it  is  simply  impossi- 
ble that  they  should  have  come  from  the  same  original 
author."  The  youth  sees  that  if  there  bo  thorough-going 
differences,  there  will  be  the  same  whether  the  book  was 
written  by  one  man  or  by  four.  lie  wonders  how  the 
inspired  writers,  and  our  Lord  Himself,  should  have  as- 
scribed  the  work  with  such  thorough-going  differences  to 
one  man,  Moses.  But  he  is  told  that  many  statements 
that  were  "inconsistent  and  contradictory  are  complement- 
ary and  supplementary  in  different  authors"  [p.  15].  He 
hastens  to  get  further  information.  "  Scholars  are  not 
agreed  in  the  names  they  give  to  the  four  documents. 
The  priestly  narrator  is  the  Q.  of  Wellhausen,  is  the  A. 
of  the  first  Elohist  of  Dollmann.  The  prophetic  narrator 
is  the  Jahvist.  The  theocratic  narrator  is  the  second 
Elohist.  The  Deuteronomist  is  agreed  by  all  "  {^Bih.  TRst.^ 
p.  34].  "  Higher  Criticism  has  traced  these  four  narra- 
tives in  the  Hexateuch,  and  has  for  the  most  part  separated 
them  so  that  we  can  place  them  in  parallelism  just  as  we 
do  the  four  Gospels  in  our  harmonies  "  [Blh.  Hist.,  p.  13]. 
The  youth  remarks,  Fortunately  the  four  Gospels  are  al- 
ready separated  for  us,  which  makes  a  diffei-ence.  It  is 
shown  that  the  four  narratives  correspond  to  the  four  Gos- 
pels. An  original  view  is  added.  "  Both  correspond  with 
the  four  great  temperaments  of  mankind  and  the  four 
great  types  of  character  that  reappear  throughout  human 
history."  The  youth  has  read  a  good  deal,  and  does  not 
find  these  four  types  acknowledged  by  students  of  the 
human  mind  or  by  historians.    He  is  beginning  to  suspect 


24  WHITHER?      O   WHITHER? 

that  fancies  instead  of  facts  are  being  introduced.  But 
the  book  announces  to  him  tliat  after  the  captivity,  that  is, 
one  thousand  years  after  the  supposed  time  of  Moses,  an 
unknown  editor  "  compacted  them  together,  as  Tatian  did 
the  Gospels  in  the  second  Christian  century." 

The  reader  had  gone  through  Whithee  ?,  when  tlie  Sab- 
bath interposed,  and  he  had  to  teach  a  class.  The  lesson 
for  the  day  was  John  i.  45  :  "  We  have  found  him  of 
whom  Moses  did  write."  To  instruct  his  pupils  he  had 
collected  parallel  passages,  such  as  Luke  xvi.  29  ;  the  words 
of  Jesus,  "  They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets ;  "  and  v. 
31,  "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets  " — passages 
w^hich  clearly  announce  that  Moses  is  sanctioned  by  Jesus 
as  the  author  of  the  earlier  books  of  Scripture.  AVhat  is 
our  youth  to  make  of  these  conflicting  statements  before 
him.  His  conscience  is  tender  and  sensitive.  He  is  not 
prepared  to  tell  his  pupils  that  Moses  did  not  write  that 
part  of  Scripture  which  it  is  said  "  he  did  write."  He  is 
stao-o-ered  and  cannot  go  to  his  Sabbath-class,  and  he  can- 
not even  send  a  substitute,  for  he  is  determined  that  noth- 
ins:  shall  be  taught  to  his  class  of  which  he  is  not  fully 
persuaded  that  it  is  true. 

But  he  is  fascinated,  he  fears,  as  the  bird  is  by  a  ser- 
pent's eye.  He  must  have  the  question  settled.  He  finds 
that  the  opening  of  his  Bible  is  "  a  poem,"  is  an  ''  epic," 
is  a  "  lyric,"  "  a  drama."  It  is  "  an  ancient  epic  describ- 
ing the  creation  of  the  world  "  [p.  26] .  It  is  "a  stately 
lyric  in  six  pentameter  strophes  "  [p.  26].  "  It  paints  the 
wondrous  drama  of  the  six  days'  work  "  [p.  26].  It  is  "  a 
lyric  of  wonderful  power  and  beauty."  The  youth  has 
read,  in  a  translation,  ^Eschylus'  "Prometheus  Bound,"  and 
Dante's  "  Divine  Comedy  ; "  he  has  read  Milton's  "  Para- 
dise Lost "  and  Young's  "  Night  Thoughts,"  and  Pollock's 
"  Course  of  Time,"  and  he  is  told  to  look  on  Genesis  as  a 


WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHER  ?  25 

poem,  like  them,  full  of  life  and  grandeur.  In  the  appen- 
dix ho  finds  a  paper  designated  "  The  Epic  of  the  Fall  of 
Man,"  in  which  it  is  said:  "The  earher  chapters  of  Gen- 
esis contain  brief,  simple,  and  charming  stories  of  the  ori- 
gin and  early  history  of  mankind,  and  bear  traces  of  great 
autiqnity.  They  were  doubtless  handed  down  for  many 
generations  in  unwritten  tradition  ere  they  were  com- 
mitted to  writing  by  the  sacred  writers.  They  passed 
through  a  series  of  editions,  until  at  last  they  were  com- 
pacted in  that  unique  collection  of  inspired  scripture  which 
we  call  the  book  of  Genesis  "  [Bib.  Hist.,  p.  39].  They  are 
a  series  of  real  poems.  "  It  was  the  good  fortune  of  the 
author  to  make  this  discovery.  Annual  work  upon  these 
passages  with  his  classes  led  him  gradually  toward  it.  He 
first  noted  a  number  of  striking  instances  of  parallelism 
of  lines  here  and  there,  and  thus  detected  snatches  of 
poetry  in  several  passages.''  "All  the  characteristic 
features  of  Hebrew  poetry  are  clearly  manifested  in  the 
poem.  This  led  us  to  examine  the  Elohistic  narrative  of 
the  flood,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  poem  of  the  same  Elohis- 
tic story  of  the  creation.  We  next  examined  the  Jehovis- 
tic  narrative  of  the  temptation  and  fall,  and  found  it  to 
be  a  poem  of  an  entirely  different  structure  from  the 
poems  of  the  Elohist."  "  The  poems  of  the  Fall  of  Man 
exhibit  the  several  features  of  Hebrew  poetry."  "  The 
stories  of  Cain  and  Abel  and  the  dispersion  of  the  na- 
tions from  Babel  resolved  themselves  into  the  same  poet- 
ical structure.  And  thus  it  has  become  manifest  that 
"  the  earlier  chapters  of  Genesis  are  a  series  of  real  po- 
ems "  [Bib.  Hist.,  pp.  39-40]. 

The  young  man  is  now  perplexed  beyond  measure.  He 
shows  the  passages  to  his  mother,  and  finds  that  slic  can- 
not help  him.  He  can  find  nothing  in  the  book  or  lecture 
to  counteract  these  statements  and  allay  liis  doubts  and 


26  WHITHER?      O   WHITHER? 

fears.  He  wishes  to  know  how  far  down  in  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  these  principles  go  logi- 
cally. He  sees  at  once  that  the  two  first  chapters  of  Luke, 
treating  of  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  of  the  time  and  manner 
of  it,  and  of  his  early  life,  must  be  removed  from  the 
region  of  historical  narrative  to  that  of  poetry.  The 
youth  finds  the  marks  of  poetry,  the  parallelisms  and  cor- 
respondences in  the  discourses  of  onr  Lord,  and  even  in  the 
Epistles  of  Paul  and  John.  He  cries  out :  "  If  the  foun- 
dations be  destroyed,  what  can  the  righteous  do  ?  "  He  was 
to  haV'O  spoken  on  the  Sabbath  of  Christ  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  Xew,  but  he  has  to  exclaim  :  "  They  have 
taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  tomb,  and  we  know  not 
where  they  have  laid  him.'' 

I  have  to  meet  such  cases.  Young  men  unbosom  them- 
selves to  me,  and  I  never  betray  their  confidence.  But 
what  ground  am  I  to  take  ?  Am  I  to  allow  that  it  has 
been  proved  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  Pentateuch,  that 
it  is  the  work  of  a  number  of  writers  combined  by  an  un- 
known editor  who  lived  a  thousand  years  after  them,  that 
a  large  portion  of  the  earlier  books  are  poems  though  they 
seem  to  be  history,  that  we  have  to  draw  the  fall  of  man 
from  a  drama,  that  we  have  no  history  of  the  creation  out 
of  nothing?  If  scholars  have  to  answer  this  in  the  afiirm- 
ative,  it  will  soon  become  known  ;  the  journalists,  whose 
conscience  has  been  hardened  by  their  being  obliged  to 
work  on  Sabbath,  will  eagerly  publish  it,  the  clubs  wiW 
talk  of  it,  there  will  be  old  men  and  young  ready  to  prop- 
agate it.  The  truth,  as  the  saying  is,  can  injure  nobody  ; 
and  our  ministers  will  not  be  able  to  keep  it  secret — they 
will  have  to  notice  it  and  publish  it.  When  this  comes 
to  pass,  the  defenders  of  the  faith,  especially  those  who 
have  adopted  the  new  view  of  Scripture,  will  have  a  work 
to  do  of  enormous  magnitude.     They  will  have  to  prepare 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  27 

the  public  mind  for  this  new  state  of  things ;  they  will  have 
to  reason  with  and  convince  intelligent  men  ;  they  will 
have  to  soothe  fathers  and  mothers  anxious  to  know  how 
to  educate  their  children  ;  and  they  will  have  to  instruct 
young  men  to  keep  them  from  breaking  away  from  the 
Bible  altogether ;  they  will  have  to  modify  our  Sabbath- 
school,  and  our  whole  religious  literature  ;  the  people  will 
have  to  be  taught  a  new  way  of  interpreting  Scripture, 
and  to  encourage  all  their  religious  thoughts  and  belief  to 
take  a  new  form. 

I  know  that  in  Germany,  with  its  hymns,  there  are 
many  who  admit  all  that  the  professor  has  advocated,  and 
who  yet  retain  an  ardent  piety.  But  America  is  not  ready 
for  this.  Those  who  take  away  the  evil  must,  as  a  more 
important  duty,  be  prepared  to  supply  the  good.  This  is 
a  greater  work  than  Christians  in  America  have  been  re- 
quired to  engage  in  since  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  It 
is  a  Bevolution — let  it  be  made  a  Reformation. 

I  am  not  worthy,  I  am  not  competent,  to  engage  in  this 
work.  I  take  a  different  stand.  I  am  not  amazed  at  the 
objections  taken  by  those  who  would  disintegrate  the  re- 
ceived Bible.  1  have  heard  them  stated  and  repeated  for 
the  last  forty  years.  I  believe  they  have  been  answered  in 
Germany  and  in  England,  and  are  now  being  answered  in 
this  country. 

I  have  always  understood  that  Moses  may  have  got  the 
materials  of  his  history  from  various  quarters  ;  perhaps  a 
little  from  Egypt,  but  more,  as  is  now  being  shown,  from 
Chaldea — whence  the  race  were  scattered — this  being 
handed  down  in  the  families  of  Abrahain  and  Jacob.  But 
these  were  brought  into  a  unity  by  Moses  under  the  in- 
spiration of  God. 

The  German  philosophers,  especially  those  of  the  school 
of  Kant,  are  ever  finding  antinomies,  that  is,  contradictions, 


28  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHEE  ? 

in  our  nature.  I  have  been  laboring,  in  my  philosophic 
works,  to  show  that  the  supposed  contradictions  are  not  in 
our  minds  but  merely  in  the  accounts  given  by  the  philoso- 
phers. In  like  manner,  the  Bible  critics  are  seeking  to 
discover  antinomies  in  the  Bible.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
find  them.  There  are  some  apparent  discrepancies  which 
I  may  not  be  able,  from  my  limited  knowledge,  to  recon- 
cile, but  there  are  no  positive  contradictions. 

There  are  different  modes  of  expression  in  different  parts 
of  the  Pentateuch.  We  may  observe  that  in  the  pres- 
ent day  there  are  diverse  phrases  to  designate  the  Divine 
Being,  such  as  Lord,  God,  Jehovah,  Almighty,  Deity.  In 
our  common  speech  and  writing  they  are  sometimes  used  in- 
discriminately, and  sometimes  a  special  phrase  is  employed, 
such  as  Jehovah,  Almighty,  to  call  attention  to  a  special  as- 
pect. But  we  cannot  argue  from  these  a  difference  of  char- 
acter or  belief  on  the  part  of  those  who  employ  them. 
Just  as  little  from  the  various  phrases  and  combination  of 
phrases  in  Genesis  can  we  place  verses  and  paragraphs  into 
four  separate  compartments.  It  is  quite  possible  that  in 
some  of  the  narratives  handed  down  through  the  family  of 
Abraham  one  phrase,  say  Eloliim,  was  used  in  one  ;  and  a 
different  phrase,  Jahveh,  in  another.  But  the  truth  set 
forth  is  the  same  in  all,  and  the  history  is  continuous  and 
consistent.  But  it  is  not  possible,  without  twisting  and 
torturing,  to  place  the  chapters  and  verses  into  the  divi- 
sions of  the  critics.  In  fact,  the  critics  are  not  agreed  as 
to  the  number  of  narratives  or  the  divisions  which  require 
to  be  made.  Some  call  in  two  writers,  the  Elohist  and  Je- 
hovist ;  some,  three  ;  the  majority,  four  ;  but  some  have  to 
call  in  five  or  six  in  order  to  get  all  the  passages  allocated. 
Dr.  Briggs  has  not  spread  out  any  such  scheme  before  us. 
If  it  were  drawn  out  in  details  and  laid  before  us,  every 
man  would  see  the  paddings  at  the  junctions.     The  theory 


WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  29 

is  too  far-fetched,   is  too  ingenious  and  artificial,  to  be 
true. 

I  find  Moses  referred  to  or  quoted  upward  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  times  in  the  Old  and  Kew  Testa- 
ments, thirty-six  times  in  the  four  Gospels,  in  the  major- 
ity of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  in  the  Acts,  in  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  in  Jude  and  Revelation.  In  all  the  places,  he  is 
spoken  of  as  speaking  or  acting  with  authority.  The  belief 
of  the  Jews  was  that  the  earlier  portion  of  the  Bible — 
the  hxw  as  opposed  to  the  prophets — is  sanctioned  by  our 
Lord  as  being  by  Moses.  "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though  one 
rose  from  the  dead  "  (Luke  xvi.  31).  These  authoritative 
declarations  carry  far  more  weight  with  me  than  the  sliarp 
dissections  by  which  they  would  divide  the  Lord's  raiment 
instead  of  accepting  it  as  an  inheritance. 


VIII. 

AYniTiiER  ?  As  to  the  poetical  theory  f  I  acknowledge 
that  there  are  parallelism  and  counterparts  in  Genes'S,  as 
there  are  through  most  parts  of  Scripture,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  lines  which  are  drawn  out  in  the  revised  version  of 
the  Bible.  The  fact  is,  the  poetry  and  the  prose  of  the 
Hebrews  do  not  differ  so  widely  as  those  of  the  Western 
languages.  When  I  had  to  read  and  examine  the  essays 
of  students,  I  found  that  those  whose  reading  had  been 
chiefly  in  the  Scriptures  were  apt  to  compose  in  couplets 
and  antitheses,  which  I  corrected,  in  order  that  a  truly 
Englisli  style  might  be  formed.  Whether  the  writings  be 
in  poetry  or  prose,  whether  they  be  balanced  or  unbal- 
anced, we  must  reach  the  assurance  tliat  tliey  are  true.  I 
feel  that  the  unity  and  consistency  of  the  whole  is  an  evi- 


30  WHITHER  ?      0   WHITHEE  ? 

dence  of  its  being  constructed  by  one  Divine  Mind  bring- 
ing all  the  parts  together,  as  the  builder  combines  the 
separate  stones  into  one  edifice. 

I  remember  that  when  I  was  a  student  there  was  a  vig- 
orous attempt  by  some  great  scholars  to  divide  Homer 
into  a  number  of  personalities.  I  was  an  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer and  lover  of  Homer,  and  I  resented  the  attempt  to 
dissect  him,  which  seemed  to  me  to  imply  the  killing  of 
the  living  man.  I  felt  sure  that  the  whole,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  links  of  junction,  M'as  the  product  of  one  great 
genius.  I  rather  think  that  the  critics  have  now  ceased  to 
anatomize  the  great  bard  of  Greece,  and  that  he  has  been 
left  a  living  man.  I  am  convinced  that  in  like  manner 
the  attempt  to  turn  the  Pentateuch  into  an  anatomy  will 
be  seen  to  be  a  failure  by  all  men  of  good  sense — a  qual- 
ity not  always  possessed  by  the  higher  critics. 

I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  these  German  professors. 
They  live  in  their  studies,  they  are  most  industrious  and 
full  of  book-learning,  but  they  often  know  little  of  the 
world  beyond,  and  they  construct  theories  utterly  incon- 
sistent with  what  we  know  of  human  character.  They 
could  tell  you  what  was  the  price  of  grain  brought  from 
Egypt  to  Eome  on  the  day  on  which  Julius  Csesar  was 
assassinated,  but  they  know  nothing  of  the  price  of  the 
food  in  their  kitchen — that  they  leave  very  wisely  to  their 
wives.  To  keep  up  their  high  reputation,  they  have  to 
bring  out  some  discovery  or  theory  every  year.  Of  Eich- 
horn,  the  father  of  the  dissecting  biblical  critics.  Dr. 
Briggs  allows  :  "  He  did  not  always  grasp  the  truth.  He 
sometimes  chased  shadows  and  framed  visionary  theories, 
both  in  relation  to  the  Old  and  Xew  Testaments  "  [Bih. 
Hist.,  p.  35].     The  same  may  be  said  of  his  successors. 

Our  professor  does  not  set  a  high  value  on  the  labors 
of  Mr.  Moody.     "  Mr.  Moody  and  his  followers  are  crude 


WHITHER?      O   WniTHER?  31 

in  tlieir  theology  ;  they  pursue  false  methods  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture,  and  therefore  they  spread  abroad 
not  a  few  serious  errors,  and,  on  the  whole,  work  disorgan- 
ization and  confusion"  [p.  3].  Though  Mr.  Moody  may, 
on  very  rare  occasions,  misunderstand  a  passage,  as  not 
knowing  Hebrew  or  Greek,  yet  from  his  thorough  oneness 
and  sympathy  with  the  inspired  writers,  with  Jesus,  and 
with  Paul,  he  preaches  far  deeper  and  richer  truth  than  I 
have  ever  heard  from  German  critics  or  their  American 
disciples,  and  which  comes  home  with  power  to  the  hearts 
both  of  sinners  and  of  saints,  and  determines  the  whole 
future  life  and  conduct. 

Whether  Ihe  thoughtless  perceive  it  or  not,  these  asser- 
tions as  to  the  authenticity  and  integrity  of  Scripture  are 
playing  into  the  hands  of  Professor  Huxley,  who  is  lead- 
ing us  into  the  bogs  of  agnosticism,  and  there  leaving  us. 
I  know  a  sophomore  who  has  just  finished  Formal  Logic, 
who  is  vain  of  his  attainments  and  has  constructed  a  di- 
lemma :  "  If  the  inspired  writers  and  Jesus  did  not  know 
that  Moses  was  not  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch  [as  has 
been  shown  by  the  critics],  then  they  arc  ignorant  and 
we  cannot  believe  them.  Or,  if  they  knew  that  he  was 
not  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  yet  said  that  he 
was,  then  the}'  were  dishonest  and  we  cannot  believe  them. 
The  conclusion  is,  that  we  cannot  believe  them."  Of 
course,  the  answer  is,  that  they  did  know  that  Moses 
wrote  the  Pentateuch  and  proclaimed  it. 

But  the  objectors  will  here  insinuate  that  I  am  not  so 
good  a  Hebraist  as  to  perceive  the  four  different  styles  of 
the  authors  of  the  Pentateuch.  I  answer  that,  though  I 
was  at  one  time  called  to  a  theological  chair  in  Edinburgh, 
my  later  studies  have  been  in  a  different  direction.  Put  1 
have  beside  me  our  Dr.  Green,  who  knows  Hebrew  as 
thoroughly  as  the  critics,  who  has  a  fine  literary  discern- 


32  WHITHEK  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

ment,  and  he  assures  us  that  he  cannot  discern  a  differ- 
ence of  style  sufficient  to  show  a  difference  of  authorship. 
I  acknowledge  at  once  that  I  am  not  the  person  to  carry 
on  this  controversy.  But  I  can  refer  to  a  discussion  be- 
tween Dr.  Green,  of  Princeton,  and  Dr.  Harper,  of  Yale, 
where  both  sides  of  the  subject  are  fully  set  before  us. 

But  before  closing  this  section,  I  have  to  call  attention 
to  what,  I  am  sure,  is  the  great  theological  want  of  the 
age.  Have  we  a  learned  and  satisfactory  work  on  the  In- 
spiration of  the  Bible  ?  We  have  some  good  orthodox 
books  on  the  subject,  but  are  they  up  to  the  scholarship 
of  the  day,  and  fitted  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  young 
men  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  we  need  a  thoroughly  erudite 
and  comprehensive  work  :  on  the  one  hand,  holding  that 
"  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God  and  is  prof- 
itable for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness  ; "  and,  on  the  other  hand,  specifying 
the  principles  on  which  we  are  to  proceed  in  denying  that 
certain  things  recorded  in  Scripture,  such  as  Solomon's 
harem,  are  to  be  accepted  as  they  have  not  the  sanction  of 
God.  This  we  owe  to  our  young  men  in  their  present 
position,  and  is  the  most  important  work  in  which  any 
theologian  can  be  engaged. 

Meanwhile,  our  logical  sophomore  produces  a  reductio 
ad  ahsurduin  which  settles  the  whole  subject  by  a  parallel 
case. 


IX. 

Whither  ?  Who  the  author  off  The  book  is  before 
me.  I  have  to  examine  it  by  the  principles  laid  down  in 
it.  It  professes  to  be  written  by  one  accomplished  man, 
just  as  the  Pentateuch  is  spoken  of  as  being  written  by 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  33 

Moses.  But  the  Higher  Criticism  searches  it,  and  proves 
that  it  is  the  work  of  four  (or  five)  men,  who  have  been 
compacted  by  a  very  skilful  editor. 

a.  There  is  an  orthodox  writer  ("  orthodox  ortliodox  wha 
believe  in  John  Knox"),  who  has  evidently  been  trained  in 
the  old  faith,  who  believes  the  Bible  to  be  literally  and  not 
loosely  inspired,  and  who  speaks  in  the  highest  terras  of 
the  Westminster  Standards  and  the  system  of  doctrine 
therein  contained. 

1).  A  Higher  Critic,  who  has  been  trained  under  Dr. 
Dorner  and  the  critics  of  Germany,  who  does  not  believe 
the  Bible  to  be  impeccable  or  without  error,  who  has 
dissected  it  with  a  sharp  knife,  who  is  not  favorable  to 
the  Princeton  theology,  and  has  detected  the  errors  in 
the  symbols  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  all  other 
Churches. 

c.  A  Charitable  Man,  who  is  not  disposed  to  put  man 
under  rigid  probation,  who  is  willing  to  give  a  sinner  who 
has  not  become  perfect  at  death  a  chance  in  Hades,  which 
Christ  visited  between  his  death  and  his  resurrection. 

d.  An  Esthetic  who  is  fond  of  large  chu\-ches,  of  a  large 
communion  and  a  liturgical  service,  and  who  is  anxious  to 
bring  about  an  acknowledged  union  of  all  the  Churches,  in- 
cluding the  Roman  Catholic. 

It  would  not  be  very  difiicult  to  put  each  sentence  of 
the  book  into  its  proper  compartment.  By  a  little  pressing, 
squeezing,  and  stretching,  and  leaving  a  few  rifts  at  the 
junctions,  it  could  be  shown  that  the  four  authors  repre- 
sent the  four  diverse  characters  of  man  and  correspond  to 
the  four  Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John. 

It  is  vain  to  try  to  make  the  book  appear  to  be  written 
by  one  man,  however  accomplished.  On  the  supposition 
of  there  being  only  one  autlior,  contradictions  would  ap- 
pear everywhere  : — Between  the  laudations  of  the  Bible 
3 


34  WHITHER?      O   WHITHER? 

and  the  doubts  about  it ;  between  the  eulogiums  of  the 
Confession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms  and  the  exposure  of 
the  errors  in  them  ;  between  the  Presbyterian  profession 
and  the  desire  for  read  prayers  and  a  liturgy  ;  between  tlie 
evident  aversion  to  Popery.and  the  willingness  to  form  an 
alliance  with  it.  Adopt  the  theory  of  the  fourfold  au- 
thorship and  one  editorship,  and  all  disagreements  disap- 
pear. The  remarkable  unity  has  been  given  by  the  varied 
accomplishments  of  the  compiler. 

P.S.     As  another  exercise,  the  sophomore  is  ready  to 
show  that  there  is  a  fourfold  authorship  in  this  pamphlet. 


X. 

Whither  ?  What  of  the  Christian  Evidences  f 
In  the  now  extensive  English-speaking  countries  the 
evidences  of  Christianity  are  drawn  from  two  quarters : 
one  External,  the  other  Internal.  The  External  include 
what  are  now  called  Miracles,  among  which  are  to  be 
placed  Prophecies.  Dr.  Briggs  is  not  satisfied  with  the 
way  in  which  Dr.  Hodge  and  modern  theologians  prove 
the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion.  He  seems  to  fall 
in  with  the  modern  notion  that  miracles  are  diflSculties  in 
the  way  of  belief  rather  than  arguments  for  it. 

But  it  is  a  fact  that  the  inspired  writers  do  appeal  to 
occurrences  which  show  "powers"  above  the  ordinary 
agency  of  man  and  nature.  They  are  called  "  wonders," 
inasmuch  as  they  call  attention  to  the  powers  and  signs. 
They  are  called  "  signs,"  in  that  they  attest  truth  usually 
moral  and  spiritual.  (Acts  ii.  22  :  Miracles,  wonders,  and 
signs.)  It  is  clearly  maintained  in  Scripture  that  there  were 
such  miracles  wrought  in  the  curing  of  organic  diseases, 
in  the  raising  of  the  dead,  and  the  prediction  of  coming 


WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHEll  ?  35 

events.  They  so  run  through  the  Word,  that  to  cut  them 
out,  as  the  Arnold  family  would  do,  leaves  the  body  torn 
and  lifeless.  The  miracles  can  be  substantiated  so  that 
they  become  one  part  of  the  evidences  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity. 

In  order  to  justify  this  argument,  it  may  be  noticed 
that  there  are  two  kinds  of  laws  in  nature.  There  is,  first, 
the  Laio  of  Cause  and  Effect  y  as  that  matter  attracts 
other  matter,  that  fire  burns,  and  the  sun  shines.  If  mir- 
acles were  contrary  to  this  law,  we  could  not  believe  them. 
Though  some  of  the  German  thinkers  so  represent  them, 
they  are  not  so  ;  they  have  in  God  a  cause  adequate  to 
produce  them. 

But  there  is  another  set  of  laws  in  nature,  the  Laws  of 
Uniformity.  The  agencies  working  in  nature  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  they  produce  regularities  such  as  the  succes- 
sion of  day  and  night,  the  length  oi  the  year,  the  rotation 
of  the  seasons,  the  ages  of  the  plant  and  animal.  These 
are  the  product  of  arranged  causes,  but  are  not  causes. 
Day  does  not  produce  night,  nor  night  day.  Spring  does 
not  produce  summer,  nor  youth  old  age.  Now  miracles 
are  not  contrary  to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  which  has 
no  exceptions,  but  simply  to  the  uniformity  of  nature,  which 
may  be  shifted  by  higher  agency.*  They  imply  a  divine 
power  acting  in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  it  act.s 
in  producing  day  and  night.  They  are  not  contrary  to 
any  intuitive  or  universally  established  law.  They  can 
ho,  proven  by  evidence,  and,  being  so  proven,  they  estab- 
lish the  truth  of  Christianity. 

But  we  have,  secondly,  Internal  Evidence.  Especially, 
there  is  thorough  adaptation  of  Christianity  to  man's  nat- 

*  It  would  be  out  of  place  to  explain  the  nature  of  these  two  kinds  of 
laws  here  ;  but  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  this  is  done  in  my  little 
work  on  Tlie  Tents  of  Various  Kinds  of  lYuth. 


36  WHITHEK  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

ure — to  his  moral  nature — and  his  wants.  This  is  by 
far  the  most  convincing  and  the  most  persuasive  of  evi- 
dences ;  it  comes  home  to  every  heart.  I  know  that  I  am 
a  sinner,  and  here  is  a  Saviour  provided.  I  feel  that  I  am 
weak,  but  here  I  have  strength.  As  we  realize  this,  we 
say :  Here  is  a  man  who  told  me  all  things  that  ever  I  did, 
who  revealed  to  me  all  my  nature  ;  is  not  this  the  Christ  ? 
Both  of  these  kinds  of  proof  should  be  included  in  Apolo- 
getics, now  held  to  be  so  important  a  part  of  a  theological 
course.  But  Dr.  Briggs  is  not  sure  that  this  is  the  method 
of  the  Westminster  Standards,  or  that  sanctioned  by  Script- 
ure. Pie  finds  fault  with  the  Princeton  divines  for  fol- 
lowing this  plan.  It  is  his  principal  charge  against  the 
two  Hodges,  that  in  doing  so  they  have  departed  from  the 
Standards. 

The  Reformers  and  the  Westminster  divines,  in  stand- 
ing up  for  the  Divinft  authority  of  Scripture,  were  par- 
ticularly anxious  to  show  that  it  did  not  depend  on  the 
Komish  Church.  "  The  authority  of  the  Holy  Scripture 
depends  wholly  on  God."  But  God  says:  "Prove  all 
things;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."  In  seeking  to 
obey  this  command  they  had  not  such  a  body  of  evidences 
as  we  now  have  from  our  moral  nature,  which  has  been 
carefully  defined  by  such  men  as  Butler,  Kant,  and  Chal- 
mers, and  in  innumerable  works  treating  of  the  historical 
proof.  It  appears  evident  to  me  that  they  meant  to  ap- 
peal to  what  we  now  call  the  internal  or  subjective  proof. 
"  The  full  discovery  it  makes  of  the  only  way  of  man's 
salvation,  the  many  other  incomparable  excellencies,  and 
the  entire  perfection  thereof,  are  arguments  whereby  it 
doth  abundantly  evidence  itself  to  be  the  Word  of  God." 
West.  Co7i.,  I.  5.  The  Confession  then  calls  in  "  the 
Holy  Spirit  bearing  witness  by  and  with  the  Word  in  our 
hearts." 


WHITHER  ?      O    WHITHER  ?  37 

Dr.  Briggs  affirms  that  the  Reformers  and  Westminster 
divines  built  on  thejides  divina,  the  divine  evidence,  of 
the  testimony  of  the  Spirit,  and  those  who  do  not  build 
with  them  abandon  the  work  of  the  Reformation  (p.  81); 
and  Dr.  A.  Alexander  and  the  Princeton  divines  are  so 
charged.  It  is  true  that  the  end  to  be  reached  is  21.  fides 
divina,  wliich  can  be  obtained  only  by  the  inward  work- 
ing of  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  But  it  is  admitted  that 
the  Spirit  does  not  now  reveal  to  us  any  new  truth.  We 
need  to  have  the  truth  presented  to  us  and  the  evidence 
tliat  it  is  the  truth,  according  to  the  rules  of  evidence ; 
and  in  answer  to  pra3'er  the  Spirit  seals  and  makes  it  fides 
divina.  To  reverse  this  order  is  to  fall  in  with  Quaker- 
ism and  Mysticism.  He  has  fallen  into  confusion  at  this 
point,  and  blames  the  theologians  for  not  doing  the  same. 

I  do  not  think  that  our  professor  has  thrown  any  light 
on  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  but  I  am  pleased  and 
elevated  by  what  he  says  of  Theophanies  or  God-Mani- 
festations. We  have  such  in  nature.  "  The  heavens  de- 
clare the  glory  of  God."  "  God  left  not  liimself  without 
witness,  in  that  he  did  good  and  gave  us  rain  from  heav- 
CTi  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  food  and 
gladness."  We  have  such  a  theophany  every  morning  as 
the  sun  rises,  every  spring  as  the  plants  burst  out.  These 
are  natural  manifestations.  But  we  have  also  supernatu- 
ral ones,  as  in  the  creation  of  man,  the  prophecy  of  the 
seed  of  the  woman,  the  call  of  Abraham,  the  birth  and 
death  of  the  Son  of  God.  These  are  just  the  higher  mir- 
acles, the  powers  and  signs  and  wonders,  indicating 
clearly  a  power  working  above  the  uniformities  of  nat- 
ure. Among  the  highest  of  these  theosophics  we  have 
tlie  volume  of  the  Book  relating  and  infallibly  sanction- 
ing the  whole. 


38  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 


XL 

Whither  ?  Are  we  in  this  life  under  Probation  f  Ke- 
sponsibility  and  Probation  are  two,  or,  when  combined, 
tliey  are  one,  of  the  great  truths  of  the  Religion  of  Nature. 
They  are  guaranteed  by  the  conscience  or  moral  reason. 
This  truth  is  one  of  the  most  essential  doctrines  announced 
or  implied  in  the  volume  of  the  Book  from  Genesis  to  Rev- 
elation, from  the  dealings  of  God  with  our  first  parents 
down  to  the  judgment  day.  God  "  will  render  to  every 
man  according  to  his  deeds,"  Rom.  ii.  6.  "  For  we  must 
all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  that  every- 
one may  receive  the  things  done  in  his  body,  according  to 
that  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad,"  1  Cor.  v. 
11.  I  could  show  that  it  has  a  place  in  the  writings  of 
the  fathers,  of  the  deeper  mediaeval  theologians,  and  the 
reformers.  It  was  expressed  more  fully  when  the  Cam- 
bridge School  unfolded  the  great  principles  of  morality. 
It  was  enunciated  more  definitely  by  Butler  and  others, 
when  deism  appeared  in  the  last  century.  It  has  now  a 
fundamental  position  both  in  ethics  and  religion.  It  is 
by  this  truth  that  men  are  shut  up  into  Christ. 

But  the  professor  in  Union  Theological  Seminary  tells 
us  :  "  The  doctrine  that  this  life  is  a  probation  was  not 
known  to  the  Reformers  or  the  "Westminster  divines.  It 
is  a  doctrine  that  is  inconsistent  with  Calvinistic  prin- 
ciples. These  represent  that  our  race  had  a  probation 
once  for  all  in  Adam  at  the  beginning  of  human  historj^ 
and  were  condemned  for  failure  in  that  probation,  so  that 
we  are  a  lost  race,  not  under  a  probation,  but  under  a 
curse,  and  needing  above  all  things  redemption  through 
Jesus  Christ"  [p.  217].  If  this  is  part  of  the  system  of 
doctrine  in  the  Confession,  it  is  time  to  add  a  supplement. 


WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  39 

But  Dr.  Briggs  might  have  seen  that  the  Confession  of 
Faith  gives  us  the  supplement :  "  All  persons  that  have 
lived  upon  the  earth  shall  appear  before  the  tribunal  of 
Christ  to  give  an  account  of  their  thoughts,  words,  and 
deeds,  and  to  receive  according  to  what  they  have  done  in 
the  body,  whether  good  or  evil." — Con.,  XXXIII. 

Paul  does  speak  in  one  passage  of  our  connection  with 
Adam  and  of  hereditary  sinfulness,  Rom.  v.  12-27.  Au- 
gustine, with  his  great  speculative  genius,  has  drawn  out 
of  it  a  comprehensive  theory  which  is  not  all  sanctioned 
by  Scripture.  Our  sinful  nature  may  have  come  down 
to  us  from  Adam,  but  it  is  our  sinful  nature  and  our  sin. 
'•  Wherefore  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world  and 
death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  on  all  men  for  that  all 
have  sinned,"  v.  12.  These  two  statements  should  never  be 
separated.  I  have  inherited  my  sin  from  Adam — modern 
science  attaches  great  importance  to  inheritance— but  I 
have  sinned  myself.  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  required 
to  repent  of  and  confess  the  sin  of  Adam ;  I  confess  my 
own  sin. 

I  can  show  that  this  doctrine  of  man's  personal  proba- 
tion was  the  universal  Puritan  doctrine.  Baxter  and  all 
of  them  speak  thus  :  "  AVe  assure  them  that  God  will 
never  say,  Depart  from  me,  ye  workers  of  iniquity, 
if  they  do  not  first  by  iniquity  depart  from  God,  and  that 
God  will  not  damn  them,  except  they  first  damn  them- 
selves by  the  obstinate  final  refusing  and  resisting  of  his 
mercy." — Reasons foi'  Ministers'  using  the  Greatest  Plain- 
ness. 


40  WHITHER  'I      O   WHITHER  ? 


XII. 

Whither  ?  As  to  the  Middle  State  ?  Dr.  Brigga  dwells 
on  this  subject  more  fully  than  on  any  other  Scripture 
doctrine.  I  fear  that  he  has  got  into  difficulties.  The 
Reformers  and  the  Westminster  divines  had  seen  and 
been  deeply  impressed  with  the  soul-ruining  corruptions 
which  had  sprung  from  the  Romish  doctrine  of  Purga- 
tory, and  they  uttered  clear  and  decisive  language  as  to 
what  becomes  of  the  soul  at  death,  "The  souls  of  be- 
lievers, being  then  made  perfect  in  holiness,  are  received 
into  the  highest  heavens."  "  The  souls  of  the  wicked  are 
cast  into  hell."  "  Besides  these  two  places  for  souls  sepa- 
rated from  their  bodies  the  Scripture  acknowledgeth  none." 
— Con.^  XXXIII.  In  like  manner,  the  Larger  Catechism 
says  of  the  members  of  the  invisible  Church  that  imme- 
diately after  death  "  their  souls  are  then  made  perfect  in 
holiness  and  received  into  the  highest  heavens,"  Q.  86. 
The  same  statement  is  made  in  the  Shorter  Catechism  : 
"  The  souls  of  believers  are  at  their  death  made  perfect  in 
holiness  and  do  immediately  pass  into  glory,"  Q.  37.  Dr. 
Briggs  has  declared  :  "  I  solemnly  and  sincerely  receive  and 
adopt  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  as  containing 
the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
He  is  not  bound  to  every  statement  of  the  Confession, 
but  he  is  bound  to  "  the  system  of  doctrine."  But  that 
the  souls  of  believers  are  at  their  death  made  "  perfect 
in  holiness "  is  clearly  a  part  of  the  "  system  of  doc- 
trine," as  essential  a  part  as  any  other  doctrinal  statement 
in  the  Confession. 

Dr.  Dorner  had  stated  in  regard  to  those  who  had  died 
unbelieving :  "  If  instead  of  repenting  and  being  con- 
verted, instead  of  growing  in  knowledge  of  God  as  holy 


WIIITIIEK?      O   WHITHER?  41 

and  yet  gracious  in  Christ,  they  prefer  to  continue  in 
evil,  then  the  form  of  their  sin  becomes  more  spiritual, 
more  deinoniacal  in  accordance  with  their  state  from 
whicli  this  world  recedes  farther  and  farther,  and  thus 
it  ripens  into  judgment  "  [p.  211].  Our  professor  adopts 
this  doctrine,  but  not  altogether.  He  does  not  say  that 
there  is  conversion  after  death.  "  It  may  be  that  there  is 
no  hope  of  regeneration  after  death  or  of  the  initiation  of 
the  order  of  salvation  in  the  middle  state  "  [p.  219].  On 
this  point  he  has  kept  clear  of  the  Andover  heresy,  whicli 
has  so  troubled  the  Congregational  churches.  Otherwise 
he  has  followed  his  German  master.  We  feel  it  to  be 
strange,  when  we  read  the  passages  quoted  above  from  the 
Confession,  to  find  him  declaring  that,  "  The  Confession 
makes  no  such  statement  as  this,"  that  "  sanctification  be- 
comes immediate  at  death  ; "  "  it  does  not  say  that  man  is 
made  perfect  at  the  moment  of  death"  [p.  147]. 

It  is  important  that  we  should  know  his  doctrine,  which 
is  not  that  of  "  the  system  of  doctrine."  lie  opens  :  *■•  Tlu; 
middle  state  must  be  opened  up  in  the  discussions  that 
are  in  progress.  There  must  be  the  fullest  liberty  in  this 
debate"  [p.  222].  "The  question  we  have  to  determine 
as  Calvinists  is  whether  the  divine  grace  is  limited  in  its 
operation  to  this  world  of  ours,  whether  the  divine  act  of 
regeneration  may  take  place  in  the  middle  state  or  not, 
whether  any  part  of  the  order  of  salvation  is  carried  on 
there  or  not,  and  if  any  part,  what  part"  [p.  221].  In 
answering  this  question  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  : 
"  Among  infra-confessional  errors  the  most  serious  is  the 
neglect  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Middle  State.  The  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  and  the  Catechisms  are  meagre  enough 
here"  [p.  206].  lie  condemns  the  Protestant  dogmatic 
divines  who  insist  "on  determining  the  fate  of  men  im- 
mediately after  death  without   regard   to   the  doctrine  of 


42  WHITHER?      O   WHITHER? 

the  middle  state"  [p.  196].  He  would  have  "an  exten- 
sion of  the  gracious  operations  of  God  into  the  Middle 
State,  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  where  the  order 
of  salvation  begun  for  infants  and  others  in  regeneration 
may  be  conducted  through  all  the  processes  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  adoption,  and  sanctification  by  repentance, 
and  glorification  in  love  and  holiness  in  the  communion 
of  God  and  the  Messiah"  [p.  137].  He  assures  us  that 
recent  study  "  has  held  up  the  light  of  Christian  ethics 
and  shown  that  the  doctrine  of  immediate  sanctification 
at  death  is  contrary  to  the  Scriptures  and  the  Creeds,  and 
has  filled  the  middle  state  with  ethical  contents  as  a  place 
for  Christian  sanctification"  [p.  286]. 

His  doctrine  is  clearly  before  us.  People  must  judge 
whether  it  is  consistent  wdth  the  system  of  doctrine  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures.  For  myself,  I  believe  that  there 
is  very  little  said  in  Scripture  about  Hades.  It  is  clear, 
however,  that  at  death  the  soul  is  made  perfect  in  the 
sense  of  being  free  from  all  sin.  Without  this  holy  sepa- 
ration it  could  not  see  God.  Without  holiness  no  man 
can  see  the  Lord.  But  I  am  also  inclined  to  believe  that  in 
the  intermediate  state,  and  throughout  eternity,  there  will 
be  a  growth  in  the  graces  that  abide,  especially  these 
three — faith,  hope,  and  charity. 

Objections  may  be  taken  to  the  doctrine  elaborated  by 
Dorner,  virtually  accepted  by  Andover,  and  followed  out 
in  part  by  our  theological  professor.  So  far  as  I  see,  it 
allows  the  possibility  of  the  souls  which  believed  on  earth 
falling  away  and  being  lost  in  Hades.  Protestant  preach- 
ers exhort  their  hearers  to  repent  and  believe,  and  become 
holy  and  perfect,  as  there  is  no  provision  for  this  in  the 
world  to  come.  But  they  can  do  this  no  longer,  as  their 
hearers  are  told  that  there  is  some  kind  of  probation  being 
prolonged  till  the  final  judgment.     Logically  and,  I  fear, 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  43 

practically,  it  must  issue  in  some  of  the  evils  of  Purgatory, 
which,  always  along  with  the  priestly  power  of  forgiving 
sins,  is  the  most  perilous  tenet  of  the  Church  of  Konie.  It 
leads,  I  know  that  in  fact  it  does,  to  prayers  for  the  dead, 
for  those  who  are  not  yet  sanctified.  It  would  go  on,  con- 
sequently, to  a  continuance  of  such  prayers  indefinitely, 
and  to  a  provision  being  made  by  persons  when  living,  or 
by  their  friends  when  they  are  dead,  to  secure,  by  pecun- 
iary gifts  to  the  Church,  the  continuance  of  these  peti- 
tions till  the  judgment  day,  when  the  soul  is  made  perfect. 


XIII. 

Whither  ?  What  of  the  Unity  of  the  Church  ?  Our 
Lord's  prayer  was,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou. 
Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us  ;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me."  The  Romish  Church,  and  perhaps,  also,  the  Churcli 
of  England,  set  too  high  a  value  comparatively  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Visible  Church,  and  Protestants  who  have 
seceded  from  other  Churches  are  inclined  to  attach  too 
little  importance  to  it.  "  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church."  The  Church  that  does  not  believe  this  is,  so 
far,  departing  from  the  faith.  The  Church  which  so  shuts 
itself  up  within  itself  that  it  does  not  acknowledge  other 
Evangelical  Churches  is  guilty  of  positive  sin  for  which  it 
will  somehow  or  other  be  punished  in  this  world. 

Dr.  Briggs  is  sincerely  and  hopefully  anxious  for  a 
manifestation  of  the  visible  and  real  union  of  all  tlu- 
Churches  of  Christ.  He  would  have  an  alliance  with  the 
Roman  Catholics,  though  not  with  the  Popish  Church- 
he  tries  to  distinguish  between  the  two.  There  is  no 
immediate  prospect  of  this  end  being  accomplished.     The 


44  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

Roman  Catholic  Church  cannot  separate  itself  from  its 
popish  head  without  disclaiming  its  infallibility  and  losing 
its  succession.  The  Episcopal  stands  b}^  its  apostolic  suc- 
cession— through  the  Romish  Church — and  is  willing  to  ab- 
sorb other  Churches  but  not  to  unite  with  them  on  a  foot- 
ing of  equality.  It  is  only  by  the  mighty  power  of  God 
that  these  difficulties  can  be  removed.  But  there  is  a 
more  practicable  plan  tending  toward  the  higher  final  end. 
I  could  prove  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  so  far  formed  on  the  Presbyterian  models ;  in  every 
sentence  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  which  helped  to 
unite  the  United  States,  I  hear  the  ring  of  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant.  We  Presbyterians  may  now  take 
a  lesson  from  the  American  Constitution.  If  we  cannot 
liave  a  union,  let  us  have  a  Confederation, 

Let  each  Church  retain  its  power  of  independent  ac- 
tion. One  Church  must  not  be  allowed  to  limit  the  use- 
fulness of  another.  But  each  minister  of  a  Church  should 
have  his  special  field,  which  he  is  required  carefully  to  look 
after  and  to  cultivate  by  all  the  proper  Christian  agen- 
cies. There  is  to  be  no  such  restriction  as  to  forbid  any 
minister  from  visiting  his  neighbor's  field.  But  let  each 
minister  have  a  field  for  which  he  is  responsible,  that  the 
gospel  be  preached  in  it  to  every  creature,  young  and  old. 
There  is  an  awful  responsibility  lying  on  the  Churches 
for  not  fulfilling  the  command  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  Thousands  are  dying  every  day,  not  only 
in  Heathen  but  in  Christian  countries,  to  whom  the  gos- 
pel has  not  been  preached.  Lest  the  judgments  of 
heaven  come  upon  them,  let  the  Churches  so  understand 
each  other  and  so  arrange  that  the  evangelical  forces  be 
not  wasted  by  petty  villages  having  each  five  or  six 
churches  working  against  each  other  rather  than  for 
Christ ;  and  so  that  the  joyful  sound  be  heard  by  every 


WHITHER?      O   WHITHER?  46 

man,  woman,  and  child,  in  the  shims  of  our  great  cities, 
and  over  all  the  wide  wastes  of  heathenism.  Wore  I  ten 
years  jonnger  I  would  join  others  in  seeking  to  start  such 
a  Federation. 


XIV. 

Whither  ?  In  respect  of  Public  Woi'ship  ?  I  am 
sorry  that,  with  all  his  catholicity,  Dr.  Briggs,  a  teacher 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  should  have  so  little  of  the 
old  Presbyterian  spirit.  He  is  for  a  partial  and  volun- 
tary Liturg}'.  He  says  :  "  I  would  prefer  the  use  of  a 
prayer-book  for  all  the  parts  of  common  prayer  at  the 
Sabbath  services  with  the  exception  of  a  brief  prayer  at 
the  close  of  the  services  expressing  the  special  needs  of 
the  congregation  and  the  day"  [p.  253].  But  we  all 
know  the  danger  of  formalism  in  worship.  I  should  have 
no  objection  to  one  carefully  prepared  prayer  in  every 
service,  to  keep  up  the  unity  of  the  worship.  But  I  believe 
that  great  advantage  arises  from  the  minister's  expressing 
the  common  feelings  of  himself  and  his  people  in  ordinary 
as  well  as  in  extraordinary  circumstances. 

He  thinks  that  "  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Amer- 
ica should  follow  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Europe, 
and  keep  the  Christian  year"  [p.  56].  He  must  be 
aware  that  in  countries  in  which  they  observe  days  not 
prescribed  in  Scripture  they  are  apt  to  neglect  the  Sab- 
bath which  is  ordained  of  God. 

"  We  must  follow  the  example  of  the  old  world  and  the 
experience  of  centuries,  and  build  great  buildings  that  will 
hold  several  thousand  worshippers,  and  furnish  these 
churches  with  several  ministers,  distributing  the  work 
among  them  according  to  their  several  gifts  "  [p.  40]. 


46  WHITHER  ?      O   WHITHER  ? 

This  system  of  large  churches  is  a  good  one  in  Romish 
countries,  where  the  instruction  of  the  people  is  very  much 
addressed  to  the  senses.  It  is  the  one  adopted  in  Berlin, 
where  its  working  is  not  effective.  My  landlady  in  Ber- 
lin went  to  one  of  the  churches,  I  asked  her  if  her  minis- 
ter ever  visited  her ;  "she  opened  her  eyes  in  astonishment, 
and  said,  "  I  am  not  a  Catholic."  I  am  quite  willing  that  a 
minister  with  large  preaching  gifts  should  draw  together 
as  many  as  he  can,  but  these  people  would  not  always  care 
about  attending  the  preaching  of  his  colleagues.  There  is 
a  better  system.  It  was  the  one  adopted  in  the  ancient 
Church  as  soon  as  it  was  organized.  They  divided  town 
and  country  into  workable  parishes.  It  is  the  parochial 
system  of  Scotland.  I  was  able  so  to  work  it  that  in  a 
population  of  upward  of  six  thousand  there  were  not  a 
dozen  people  who  did  not  go  to  the  house  of  God.  We 
must  come  back  to  this  parochial  method.  Let  there 
be  a  church  capable  of  holding  six  or  eight  hundred, 
not  more,  in  every  parish  in  our  cities.  Let  there  be  a 
minister  for  each,  chosen  by  the  people.  Let  him  have 
elders,  and  deacons,  and  trained  Sabbath-school  teachers. 
Let  him  visit  his  people  regularly,  and  pay  special  atten- 
tion to  the  sick  and  the  aged.  Let  him  have  an  agency, 
male  and  female,  for  drawing  in  the  careless  and  the  out- 
cast. The  Episcopalians  are  carrying  on  tliis  system 
more  effectively  than  the  Presbyterians.  The  Presbyter- 
ians of  Philadelphia  are  doing  it  more  successfully  than 
those  of  New  York.  The  spiritual  wastes  of  our  country 
will  never  be  reclaimed  till  we  carry  out  this  system  all 
over  the  land. 


WHITHEli  ?      O   WHITHER  ?  47 


XV. 

Whither  ?  To  a  close.  I  liave  answered  the  question 
put,  and  yet  I  have  not  answered  it.  I  have  done  little 
more  than  show  that  it  should  be  answered.  It  must  be 
answered  by  the  rising  generation — by  the  professors  in 
our  hundred  theological  seminaries  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
by  our  theological  students  ;  by  our  Sabbath-school  teach- 
ers ;  by  our  people,  generally,  in  the  kind  of  preaching 
they  demand  and  encourage. 

I  have  pointed  out  the  need.  Our  theologians  who  are 
training  our  probationers  must  give  the  full  answer  ;  not 
in  a  reply  to  Dr.  Briggs,  but  in  establishing  the  truths 
which  are  being  nndermined  in  our  day.  It  must  be  an- 
swered not  by  2i.jeu  cC esprit.,  such  as  this  pamphlet  is,  but 
by  comprehensive  learning,  spiritual  insight,  and  good 
sense.  We  do  not  need  a  refutation  of  old  and  effete 
heresies.  There  are  errors  that  are  deceased,  and  should 
not  be  raised  from  their  graves.  I  have  said  that  IJnitai-- 
ianism  is  dead,  and  is  laid  out  for  decent  burial.  Ihit 
there  are  living  heresies  which  must  be  met.  I  wish  the 
professor  would  answer  his  own  question,  would  resolve 
his  own  riddle,  by  doing  as  much  for  the  establishment  of 
truth  as  he  has  done  for  the  exposure  of  error. 

In  this  duel  my  opponent  had  the  right  to  choose  the 
weapons,  and  they  have  been  rather  light  ones.  When  I 
see  him  settling  the  young  in  the  faith  I  will  throw  away 
my  weapons,  never  to  take  them  up  again,  and  will  cheer 
him  in  what  must  be,  with  his  talents,  a  successful  and 
brilliant  career.  Tlie  Wliere?  will  then  give  a  satisfac- 
tory answer  to  the   Whither  ? 


^^^HITHER? 

A   THEOLOGICAL  QUESTION    FOR  THE  TIMES. 

By  CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  BRIGGS,  D.D.. 
Professor  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  AVw  York  City. 

1  VOLUME,  CBOWN  8vo.    PEICE,  $1.76. 

contents. 
Drifting — Orthodoxy— Mistaken  Attitudes— Change  of 
Base — Excesses — Failures — Departures— Perplexities 
— Progress  in  Theology— Christian  Union. 

Dr.  Briggs'  book  is  bold,  radical,  almost  startling.  It  is  the  product 
of  more  than  twenty  years  of  study  in  the  history  of  Puritan  theology 
and  especially  of  the  authors  of  the  Westminster  Standards.  The  work 
is  written  and  published  in  view  of  the  agitation  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  regarding  the  revision  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  presents 
facts  and  arguments  which  every  one  interested  in  this  question  must 
heed.  The  work,  however,  has  a  far  wider  scope.  The  author's  main 
contention  is  that  all  Christian  denominations  have  drifted  from  their 
moorings.  "  The  process  of  dissolution,"  he  says,  "  has  gone  on  long 
enough.  The  time  has  come  for  the  reconstruction  of  theology,  of 
polity,  of  worship,  and  of  Christian  life  and  work.  The  drift  in  the 
Church  ought  to  stop.  The  barriers  between  the  Protestant  denomina- 
tions should  be  removed  and  an  organic  union  formed.  An  Alliance 
should  be  made  between  Protestantism  and  Romanism  and  all  other 
branches  of  Christendom." 

"The  book  comes  to  us  fulfilling  all  anticipations.  Interesting  as  a 
novel,  almost  elegant  in  its  language,  clear  in  its  expression,  marvel- 
lous in  showing  research,  the  book  will  pay  largely  for  its  reading." — 
The  Christian  Inqitirer. 

"A  work  that  should  be  read  by  all  who  are  interested  in  religious 
discussions.  Dr.  Briggs'  researches  have  been  pursued  in  a  catholic 
spirit,  and  the  result  of  his  labors  should  have  a  place  in  every  theolog- 
ical library." — Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

"It  is  a  remarkable  work  and  is  sure  to  receive  attention." — The 

Nation. 

SUPPLIED    TO   CLERGYMEN   AT  SPECIAL   NET  RATES. 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,   Publishers. 

743-745  Brondtva)-,  New  York. 


Dr.  McCOSH'S  WORKS 

By   JAMES    McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Kx-Prtsident  of  Princeton  College. 


PSYCHOLOGY. 

I.— The    Cognitive    Powers.  II.— The    Motive    Powers. 

2  VOLS.,    12M0.     SOLD  SEPARATELY.     EACH,  $1.50. 

The  first  volume  contains  an  analysis  of  the  operations  of  the  senses, 
and  of  their  relation  to  the  intellectual  processes,  with  a  discussion  of 
sense  perception,  from  the  physiological  side,  accompanied  by  appro- 
priate cuts.  The  second  volume  treats  of  the  Motive  Powers,  as  they 
are  called,  the  Orective,  the  Appetent,  the  Impulsive  Powers  ;  including 
the  Conscience,  Emotions,  and  Will. 

FIRST  AND  FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS. 

BEING    A    TREATISE    ON     METAPHYSICS. 

12M0.  $2.00. 

Extract  from  the  Preface. — "Every  thinking  mind  has  occasion  at 
times  to  refer  to  first  principles.  In  this  work  I  have  set  myself 
earnestly  to  inquire  what  these  are  ;  to  determine  their  nature,  and  to 
classify  and  arrange  them  into  a  science.  In  pursuing  this  end  I  have 
reached  a  Realistic  Philosophy,  opposed  alike  to  the  Sceptical  Philos- 
ophy, which  has  proceeded  from  Hume,  in  England,  and  the  Idealistic 
Philosophy,  which  has  ramified  from  Kant,  in  Germany ;  while  I  have 
also  departed  from  the  Scottish  and  higher  French  Schools,  as  I  hold 
resolutely  that  the  mind,  in  its  intelligent  acts,  begins  with,  and  pro- 
ceeds throughout  on  a  cognition  of  things." 

REALISTIC    PHILOSOPHY. 

Defended  in  a  Philosophic  Series. 

Vol.  I.— Expository.      Vol.  2.— Historical  and  Critical. 

2  VOLS.,    12M0.   $3.00. 

In  the  first  volume  the  principal  philosophic  questions  of  the  day  are 
discussed,  including  the  Tests  of  Truth,  Causation,  Development,  and 
the  Character  of  our  World.  In  the  second  volume  the  same  questions 
are  treated  historically.  The  systems  of  the  philosophers  who  have  dis- 
cussed them  are  stated  and  examined,  and  the  truth  and  error  in  each  of 
them  carefully  pointed  out. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS,   Publishers, 
743-745  Broadway,  New  York. 


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